cooking pumpkin

Whitehawk

hi all! im wonding
1st is it to late to buy one of them pumpkins in the shop to eat! some people have told me they will now have lost flavor etc

2nd if not what could one do with it! aside from soup...

Has anyone had pumpkin risotto whats it like as well? any tips!

cheers

The Hill Billy

The orange 'jack o' lantern' type pumpkins don't really have a big flavour to begin with. But they are still edible.

A nice side dish I had recently was chunks of pumpkin that had been lightly oiled & then sprinkled with dessicated coconut then roasted on a medium heat. The pumpkin/coconut combination is delicious.

nosietoes

I second the lackin in flavour comment but if you're buying one to carve anyway, roasting is definetly the best route to go down. If you do want to try pumpkin risotto, I would roast the chunks first before adding them to the rissotto.

If you just want to eat pumpkin there are some lovely alternatives to the big orange carving ones. Look out for some of the more unusual and smaller pumpkins that are in vegetable shops at the moment. They tend to have more intense flavours and better texture.

Whitehawk

cheers for that info ya im really just looking for eating it really not going to get one for a window or anything so ill have a look out for as you said smaller ones in a veg shop,

someone also told me butternut squash is a good option! from what i can see its seems to be alot like pumpkin! has anyone eatin them here?

The Hill Billy

Butternut squash is a regular with my Sunday roast chicken. Chopped in chunks, a drizzle of oil & sprinkled with some ground cumin &/or coriander. Bung in the oven for the last 35/40 mins.

Whitehawk

sounds good will try that 2mo, having turkey so should go nice with it!

Deki

You can always make pumpkin pie and bread from real pumpkins but over here just usually buy canned and cooked pumpkin. If you are using a whole pumpkin, peeled and boiled like mashed potatoes, remember big jack o lantern pumpkins were not really meant for cooking, get the smaller ones. They have a slightly greener taste than canned pumpkin. (note* canned pumpkin mix is not very good, you really need to season it yourself)

Mellor

Peel and dice pumpkin or squash (the same thing btw)
Spray with oil, or toss lightly in oil
Sprinkle liberally with Chili Flakes, ground chilli
Roast for 45 mnis on a med-high heat

Then eat

Whitehawk

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Butternut squash is a regular with my Sunday roast chicken. Chopped in chunks, a drizzle of oil & sprinkled with some ground cumin &/or coriander. Bung in the oven for the last 35/40 mins.

So i tryed this, did not go just to plan but ended up still v.good so i though id post back, as it may be something you would like to try,

i had the chunks of butternut squash and in addition i did some chunks of sweet potato, all covered in oil and with a a nice amount of cumin , well my timeing for dinner went a bit off so this got over cooked, so I turned it in to a mix of a puree! Turned out so good everyone at the table now wants that on the xams dinner list!

Whitehawk

Mellor wrote: »

Peel and dice pumpkin or squash (the same thing btw)
Spray with oil, or toss lightly in oil
Sprinkle liberally with Chili Flakes, ground chilli
Roast for 45 mnis on a med-high heat

Then eat

This also sounds good! will add it on to the list to try ( and will try not over cook!)

ellieswellies

Just made my first pumpkin pie, not sure I like the recipe I used, it tasted a little bit curdled, so I'll be asking my OH's mother for one (she lives in Tennessee...)

I also saw this cute way of serving pumpkin soup on the BBC food site (although I could see myself spilling it) http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pumpkinsoup_89904

BBC food site is great cos you can just type in an ingredient and it gives you tonnes of recipes! http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/search?keywords=pumpkin&x=0&y=0

Deki

Most people use something similar to the recipe on the Pumpkin label (it's been on there for about 50 years) It's a pretty simple pumpkin custard recipe. Canned milk, sugar. eggs and spices. oven on very hot for first 15 minutes to help "set"- then turn down to cook through - done when knife comes out clean. I'd post it but it's a U.S. measurement recipe and I don't know that anyone would care.