One of my favourite times of the year is when orange can be seen for miles in farmer’s fields. While the prominence of pumpkin spice prompts sweet incarnations of this seasonal staple, I equally enjoy it in savory servings. While many are out buying pumpkins to carve for Halloween, I’m loading up on the fall fruit (yes pumpkin is considered a fruit) to expand my culinary palette.
The utterly amazing thing about pumpkins is that even one, can generate several uses, in fact, I’m going to share with you four different things, I was able to produce from one large pumpkin.
First thing is first, cooking down my pumpkin. I cut it into pieces (saving the seeds of course to roast and enjoy as a snack or to use as garnish), lay it out onto a baking sheet, season with a little salt, pepper and olive oil, then bake it slowly until the skin is easily pierced with a fork and the flesh is soft.
Since I was roasting pumpkin anyway, I also roasted off a head of garlic for use with my roast pumpkin.
Preparation #1 – Pumpkin Pizza
I pureed some of the roast pumpkin and garlic along with nutmeg, fresh sage, rosemary and EVOO then seasoned to taste with salt and pepper. This savoury puree became the base for an incredibly colorful and flavorful pizza.
Preparation #2 – Pumpkin Gnocchi
I pureed another portion of the roast pumpkin to combine with flour and egg to make golden pillows of pasta known as gnocchi. The gnocchi were tossed in a browned butter and sage sauce and finished off with shavings of Parmigiano.
Preparation #3 – Pumpkin Soup
Some of that pumpkin was further allocated to a pot where combined with chicken stock and aromatics it became a velvety fall soup that was topped with crispy sage and toasted pumpkin seeds (no part of my pumpkin gets left behind).
Preparation #4 – Pumpkin Hummus
Staring down the last remnants of my glorious gourd I noticed a resemblance to hummus. This inspired me to process that pumpkin along with cannellini beans, sage, rosemary, flaked salt, and olive oil to create a harvest hummus that I have been snacking on with homemade pita chips and veggie sticks.
One winter squash divided and devoured four different ways, I’d say this was one unbelievably delicious lesson in numeracy. Buon Appetito!
