WHEN THE GARDEN GIVES YOU PUMPKINS





This year pumpkin was a bumper crop. I've given 8 away and made puree out of 3 and still there are 24 pumpkin out in my yard. It's time for me to find some new ways to cook them up.





Wash your pumpkin and cut it in half, Scrap out the seeds and the stringy pulp. Bake it until the flesh is tender, or if your oven is broken like mine is, you can cook it in a slow cooker on high for 3 hours.





When the pumpkin is tender, turn off the heat and let it cool. Peel off the skin and drain off the liquid...

If you are wondering why homemade pumpkin is so much lighter than canned, it's because Libby’s ”Is made from a proprietary strain of tan-skinned Dickinson squash.” I thought that was interesting...





For the Savory and Sweet recipes, prepare the pumpkins by cutting off the tops and scraping out the seeds and stringy bits. When the pumpkins are clean, take a spoon and scrape out as much flesh as you can without damaging the pumpkin.





Savory Baked Pumpkin



You will need:

1 3-4 pound pumpkin

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic,chopped

a sprig of fresh thyme leaves or 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme

a pinch of nutmeg

a pinch of salt

a grind of pepper

4 large eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese





Add oil to a sauté pan and heat. Chop the flesh. Cook the garlic and cook 1 minute. Add the chopped pumpkin flesh and cook 6 or 7 minutes more stirring occasionally.





When the pumpkin is tender spoon it into the pumpkin shell.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, and cheeses. Add salt and pepper. Remove the sprig of thyme and pour the cheese mixture into the pumpkin shell.





Carefully place pumpkin into slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours or until pumpkin is tender and custard has set.





Serve by cutting slices and eat, skin and all.





Sweet custard filled Pumpkin



For the Sweet option I used a recipe for an Amish Pumpkin Custard as a base and reduced the sugar and added 2 Tablespoons of Cognac, (after reading Ina Garden I keep a bottle of Courvoisier to flavor many of my dishes.)


1 cup cooked pumpkin

1 cup cream

3 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

a pinch of salt

2 Tablespoons cognac

a drizzle of maple syrup

Place pumpkin, cream, and eggs in a food processor and whiz until smooth. Add sugar, vanilla, spices, salt, and cognac. Whiz for a short moment. Set pumpkin shell in slow cooker and fill with mixture. Top with a drizzle of maple syrup and cook on high for 3 hours or until pumpkin is tender and custard has set.