Slow Food Cooking

My pumpkins.

I like to think of the kitchen as my second studio.  So much creativity takes place in there.  Like an art studio I have my tools, work surfaces, instruction books and storage. One of the things I love about cooking is the process of transforming and combining elements.  Alchemy if you wish.  You can usually find me working in one of the two rooms. 

Last night I made pumpkin puree.  My friend Suzanne had a fruitful yield of pumpkins this year and passed a few on to me.  How lucky I feel to have home grown pumpkins! Pumpkin puree keeps well frozen and is so much nicer than using the canned goop. 

Ready for roasting.

I started by cutting the pumpkins into chunks and scooping out the strings and seeds.  I roasted the chunks on an oiled pan in a 350-degree oven for about an hour.  When the pumpkin cooled, I scooped out the meat.  I took an extra step this time and squeezed out the extra moisture through cheesecloth.  Years ago I steamed my pumpkin (Fanny Farmer’s recommendation) and ended up with watery pumpkin pies.  It was such a disappointment after all that hard work.  The pumpkin went in the Vitamix (blender) and was stored one cup at a time in plastic Baggies.  I would prefer to store the pumpkin in glass, but our freezer is small and it would take up too much space.  

The roasted pumpkin.

Scooped out "meat".

  

The puree!

From the pumpkins pictured above I gleaned 5 1/2 cups of puree.  Not as much as I thought, but I did drain out a lot of pumpkin juice.

Ready for the freezer!

After cooking the pumpkin I worked on the seeds.  I rinsed them well and spread them evenly between two baking pans.  One pan I sprinkled with Himalayan Pink Salt, the other Himalayan Pink Salt, curry and lemon pepper.  I slightly over roasted the curry seeds; they still taste good but have lost most of their curry flavor.  All together I have about two cups.  Yummy!  I’ve been roasting pumpkin seeds since I was a kid.  I think I enjoyed the seeds just as much or more than actually carving the pumpkin.  A word of caution: eating large amounts of pumpkin seeds = eating large amounts of fiber, there are consequences, if you get my drift.

 

 

Rinsed and ready for roasting.

The roasted seeds.

What will I do with it?  I plan to make a vegan pumpkin cheesecake first.  Next, perhaps a regular pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin soup, Thai pumpkin curry, and pumpkin fudge.  If I make all these things I’ll need another pumpkin!  I can also make a body scrub out of pumpkin and sugar. 

Pumpkin is super nutritious.  One cup of pumpkin has 49 calories.  It is full of fiber, vitamin E, Thiamin, Niacin, B6, Folate, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Vitamin A (246% RDA!), Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Potassium, Protein, Copper, Manganese, and antioxidants.  It boosts the immune system, is anti-inflammatory, prevents cataract and macular degeneration, protects against some cancers, helps with prostate health and depression, prevents osteoporosis and kidney stones and reduces LDL cholesterol!

100 grams of pumpkin seeds have 559 calories, 110% RDA iron, 71% RDA zinc, and 31% Niacin!  They also contain protein (30% RDA), manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin K, selenium, and the amino acid tryptophan.  

Seeds ready for eating!