Pumpkin Experiments

At the request of my friend Penny, I bought a small pumpkin to see if it was possible to do something constructive with all the cut-out pieces of Jack-o-lantern faces when carving pumpkins this year. I’ve saved the seeds for years to toast them (which my kids love), but I’ve never used the actual pumpkin pieces. Turns out, it wasn’t that hard. Ever cooked squash? Same thing—except pumpkin is sweeter, closer to a butternut squash than anything. We eat a lot of squash and I’ve cooked it in a number of different ways over the last few years—boiling, steaming, and baking—so I wondered which would work best for pumpkin. (By the way, it’s worth owning a pumpkin carving tool—I not only used it for my pumpkin experiment, but I keep it in my utility drawer all year long for seeding squash and melons; does the job way better than any spoon.)
I cut the 5 ½ lb pumpkin into thirds and tried one each way. Guess what? They all turned out the same. It just needs a little water of some kind to turn the pieces soft when they cook. Personally, I prefer steaming because the pumpkin doesn’t absorb so much excess water, but take your pick of what’s easiest for you. Once the pumpkin is soft and cool enough to handle, the edible part can be easily scooped out of the tough outer skin. I put all of it into a 2-quart bowl (that it almost filled) and used a potato masher to turn it into pumpkin paste. I thought it would be just like canned pumpkin then, but that’s where I was mistaken.
(Steamed Pumpkin)
(Boiled)

(Baked)

It takes one more step to be useable. It was a lot mushier than canned pumpkin—I figured it was from the water it cooked in to bake, so logically, I just had to strain it out. Into the colander went the pumpkin and I continued to mash until most of the liquid was gone. I still never quite got it to the point that it looked like canned, but even as-is, it tasted good, so I figured I was on the right track. I also saved the liquid to see if I could make “pumpkin juice” of Harry Potter fame, but it’s still in my fridge and probably ready to throw out by now. Guess I’ll do more experimenting next week on that one.

(Cooked pumpkin with skin removed)

(Mash and strain)

I made pumpkin pie from a can a couple of weeks ago, which, if you look at it, has one ingredient: pumpkin. http://intuitivehomemaking.blogspot.com/2009/10/easy-as-pie.html I had used a 15 oz can, so I followed the recipe I used then and added two cups of my homemade pumpkin paste. The color was all wrong. I added more pumpkin, and it was still a washed-out orange. Hmmm, still not quite right. I ended up adding the entire batch of pumpkin to get the color right. But now it was too runny. Well, flour is a good thickener—I was going for the consistency of cake batter, so I added enough to make it ‘look right’ a little more pumpkin pie spice for good measure. The batter tasted good too, so I poured it into two pie shells and baked them for about 45 minutes.

Much to my surprise, and my family’s delight, the pies were delicious. Because they had so much fresh pumpkin in them, the flavor was richer than canned. Both pies were gone by the following night. And even though there’s a lot of fat in pie crust and a little in the batter, I just got my kids to eat 2 cups of veggies without them suspecting it!

This probably seems like a lot of talk for a small process, but I suppose you might say this was like High School science class for me. “What would happen if . . . .” Probably nobody will be cooking up five pounds of pumpkin pieces, but I’ll bet if you cooked pieces from multiple pumpkins, you could get at least two or three.

So, long story short: when you carve up pumpkins next week, throw the seeds in a colander and the cut-outs in a pan. Cook the pieces until they’re soft enough for a fork to mash easily, then scrape them into a bowl and strain out the excess liquid. If you have anywhere between 3-4 cups of pumpkin, you’re set. Add 6 oz (1/2 can) sweetened condensed milk, 4 oz. cream cheese, 2 eggs, ¼ t. salt, ½ T. pumpkin pie spice, and enough flour to thicken it to cake batter consistency ( ¼ - ½ c. ). Pour into pie shell and bake for about 45 minutes at 350, or until the filling no longer jiggles inside the pan. Cool and serve.

For toasted pumpkin seeds, rinse off the seeds until most of the mulch is gone, boil them in salt water for 5-10 minutes, then they will rinse clean. Melt 2-3 T. butter in microwave and add ½ t. salt for 2 c. seeds. (you can also add ½ t. Worcestershire sauce for a richer flavor). Stir seeds into butter mix until coated. Spread on a cookie sheet (it helps to use parchment paper) and bake at 300 for about an hour, turning every 15 minutes or so. Store in refrigerator when cool.

Happy Halloween everyone! (Hope that helps, Penny)