Pumpkin.
Mighty and magical, the pumpkin is the most storied vegetable of all.
A gourd belonging to the vast cucurbita maxima family which also houses the cucumber and courgettes, pumpkins can be palm-sized or grow so big they cannot even be picked up.
Bursting with character, they are enormously versatile in the kitchen used in savoury as well as sweet preparations, and iconic in their decorative and autumnal nature.
With its happy shape, soft and soothing texture and warming shade of autumn, the pumpkin is almost impossible to dislike. Its melodic name alone spells happiness.
Surprisingly, its use in the kitchen was unfashionable in England until fairly recently, possibly spurred by American and Italian enthusiasm and admiration for the pumpkin, as well as the considerable Japanese approval: there its special kabocha variety typically boiled as an appetiser, or deep fried as tempura.
““It can be made into a good soup, but is not often seen on English tables.” ”
The pumpkin can be cooked in a remarkably many ways – it can be baked or boiled, fried or mashed, roasted or stewed or pickled or candied and eaten warm or cold.
The simplest way to cook pumpkin is to boil it. Cut into chunk and boil in salted water for about 12 minutes, blot dry and serve with olive oil and lemon wedges or clarified butter. (Only the kabocha or delica variety should be used for this.)
If baking, cut into 1cm thick slices and baked for about 20 minutes on 200 degrees with olive oil.
If cooking in a pan, a delicious way is to cook it together with some olive oil and garlic, and simmer in some white wine until tender; sprinkle with salt and rosemary towards the end and serve.
Or cook together with shallots and mushrooms in hot stock, before sprinkling with parsley and serving hot.
The pumpkin is used beautifully in the Italian kitchen, where it is most often served as a savoury course, and most often as a pasta or rice. The most notable exception is the pumpkin filled ravioli made with amaretti biscuits in the Northern town of Mantova – worth a trip to taste these alone – or in the Sicilian agrodolce recipe, featured this month.
For a simple fresh pasta dish – cook pumpkin pieces in butter and olive oil, and a little bit of water until soft. Add the fresh pasta cooked just until al dente, with the addition of extra butter and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Mix very very well and serve with Parmesan on top.
Or combine to together with crumbled sausage meat, or some Parma ham – another recipe in this month’s newsletter.
A straightforward pumpkin risotto is wonderfully seasonal – or an old fashioned French pumpkin and rice gratin – layer a buttered baking dish with sliced pumpkins that have been cooked lightly in butter and sprinkle with Parmesan, and then a layer or rice cooked in stock. Make alternate layers finishing with rice, a layer or Parmesan and some melted butter: bake until the top is browned. This is a wonderfully easy and inexpensive family supper recipe.
Or simply bake blanched pumpkin dotted with butter and sprinkled with Parmesan.
Pumpkin mash or pure is delightfully seasonal. The most delicious way is to cook it in a pan with butter before mashing it, and adding extra butter to it at the end, off the heat. In the US it is often flavoured with seasonal spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg, and further sweetened with maple syrup, or even decorated and baked with marshmallows or pecans.
It is made into a variety of typical sweets, such as pie, cupcakes, brownies, pancakes, muffins or even doughnuts or custard.
For a different take on a pumpkin pudding, try a sweet pumpkin souffle made with Vanilla, a traditional French recipe from the Larousse Gastronomique: bind 250 grams of pumpkin puree flaboured with sugar and vanilla, with 3 egg yolks. Add 3 egg whites beaten stiff. Turn out into a buttered souffle dish and cook in the usual way. (A moderate oven for 14 to 16 minutes, depending on the size; a few moments before cooking is finished the top of the souffle is sprinkled with sugar and it is glazed by being put in the hottest part of the oven.)
Made into a bake, pumpkin is delicious layered with sliced potatoes and onions in layers and drizzled with lots of olive oil. Tomato pieces can also be added to the top of this. Or why not try a pumpkin parmigiana instead – a deliciously autumnal take on this summer classic.
Pumpkin is delicious in curries and stews as in combines beautifully with all sorts of spices. It is also delightfully tasty in soup – the traditional velvety creamed soup, or in chunks together with other seasonal vegetables such as chestnuts, and enriched with healthy grains such as barley, rice or spelt.
Sweet-savoury starter options or condiments are delicious to – as a flan or pudding or jam, which can be served alongside cheeses, charcuterie or seasonal fruits or vegetables, whether at the start or the end of a meal.
Or the legendary Craig Clairborne’s Pumpkin Ring – a pumpkin flan made with milk, butter, eggs, fresh breadcrumbs, grated onion and salt and pepper, baked in a bain marie until firm. He recommends serving with the centre filled with buttered peas, tine whole onions or creamed mushrooms.
Pumpkin is rich in vitamin A, C and E, potassium, calcium and phosphorus and iron, all of which strengthen your immune system. Allow about 150g of flesh per person; about 30% of a whole pumpkin’s weight is contained in in the rind and seeds.
Pairs deliciously with -
chestnuts, ham, sausages, onions, cheeses, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, thyme, mushrooms
