Thursday, March 5, 2009

Harvest Recipe Post

You may recall that I planted zucchini last summer in a mound of my compost and then ended up with pie pumpkins. It was a good lesson to not put squash seeds in the compost. Well, if life gives you pumpkins then make pumpkin pie.

Previously I have oven roasted pumpkins to turn them into puree, in fact the seed in the compost was from the previous batch. The oven method takes a while so this time I used the microwave and it worked surprisingly well. I just cut them in half, scooped out the center and nuked them cut side down on the potato setting until a knife pierced easily. I then scooped the flesh out of the skin and pureed it in the food processor. Isn't it a beautiful orange colour, certainly nicer then its canned cousin.

Here is the final product. I chose a Caramel Pumpkin Pie recipe from Gourmet magazine, the recipe can be found at the following link. It starts by making a caramel sauce and then you add that to the custard filling before baking. If you are pinched for time I think jarred caramel sauce would be a good substitution. Although I would advise against it as there is nothing better then eating spoon fulls of warm, buttery caramel sauce right out of the pot, yum. It was the best tasting pumpkin pie I have ever had, definitely worth a try.

I have 3/4 of a cup of pumpkin puree left so I will have to come up with an another recipe for that, maybe pumpkin doughnuts, any other ideas?

If you have some extra space for pie pumpkins you should give them a try. They keep really well, this one has sat in the kitchen since October and it was just as nice as when I harvested it. I see how pumpkins sustained Native North Americans & Settlers as they keep so well. Although I don't think I would want to live on a diet of pumpkin unless it is mixed with lots of sugar and heavy cream.

8 comments:

  1. Oh lucky you, pumpkins. I try to grow then and never succeed. My kids love pumpkin pie and pumpkin cake. With just 3/4c why don't you make pumpkin muffins? Yum.

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  2. Yum, that looks great! I say go for pumkin cookies with the left over. Dont know of a recipe but i bet your mom does....

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  3. That looks delicious, Dan. I'll definitely save the recipe and hope I'm better at growing pumpkins than Daphne is....LOL! My seeds came from her!

    Pumpkin bread is delicious. Pumpkin, cooked and pureed, is good for dogs, too.

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  4. We make a savory pumpkin pasta sauce with pumpkin sometimes. It's not really a recipe, but it includes onion sauteed, red pepper, nutmeg, garlic, and good parm. cheese.

    I'm impressed that our pumpkin lasted this long.

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  5. Ordered some pie and Cinderella pumpkins this year. Can't wait to see how they work out as this will be my first time growing them.

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  6. Daphne - They grew pretty much with no care in my garden, the only problem I had was mildew at the end of the season but this is pretty much unavoidable. Maybe try one of the french pumpkins, they are supposed to be pretty tough cookies.

    Skeeter - I have not heard of pumpkin cookies, I will have to look into it.

    Granny - I am sure they will do well. I think last season was too cool & damp for them. Lets hope of a warm, dry but moist season, you know the having your cake and eating it too season.

    Emily - They sure seem like good keepers. I had not thought of pumpkin with pasta, some ravioli might be nice.

    Sandy - I love any of the french pumpkins or Cinderella's. They are supposed to yield really well and are pretty much resistant to vine borer as I've heard. I'd love to grow them one season but I don't think I have the space for them.

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  7. Oh your pumpkin looks great! And so does your pie.... I'm hungry!

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