Pumpkin

[mrph]

Well, I'm not bad at growing pumpkin. And I'm certainly quite good at eating it. Possibly need a bit more practice cooking it, though...

Yesterday's project was pumpkin and chorizo soup. Home grown pumpkin, garlic, sage and chilli, plus homemade chicken stock (...which also included some veg & herbs from the garden).

The only things straight out of a shop were the onion and the chorizo. Quite happy about that bit.

A little less happy with the end result, which was perhaps a bit thin and lacked a certain oomph. Not sure if the stock needed to be reduced or the pumpkin simply wasn't sufficiently flavourful.

I suspect the latter - more chicken (or more chilli and garlic, for that matter) might just have overwhelmed it.

So, time to do something else with the other half of the pumpkin. Something that may bring the flavour out a little more... I think it may need to be roasted (or pan cooked) and served up with some sausages... :)

...and then, of course, I've got a whole heap of pumpkin seeds to use. A bit of salt, a splash of water and a few minutes under the grill. Nom. :-)

Comments

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Roasting will certainly enhance the flavour.

[lechuguilla.livejournal.com]

Grilled pumpkin seed?

Nom indeed!

[huwjones.livejournal.com]

Roasted sounds good. You could perhaps also consider slicing and drying it for use as a snack. But I don't know if that kind of drying out needs special equipment to go well.

Or perhaps a chutney or jam?

[velvet-nothing.livejournal.com]

Are the pumpkins the big Halloween carving kind like in the FB pic you posted? I've heard that smaller varieties are better for eating and have more flesh/flavour.

For the seeds, roasting them in a little oil and some chilli powder is nice. Another option for the flesh is pumpkin pie! I made one last year for somebody that turned out really nicely - though alas I didn't eat more than about a spoonful myself as I am revolted by the very idea of pumpkin pie!

Well done on the soup - making something with almost-all homegrown produce sounds a satisfying thing to do.

[maetria.livejournal.com]

What kind of pumpkins did you grow?

I think the soup sounds like it could have been reduced or else used a smaller volume of the stock. Many pumpkin soup recipes I have come across call for sour cream, that might have made it a bit less watery

[hedya.livejournal.com]

can I have some of the seeds please? :)
On the matter of recipes, I've a booklet full educated exclusively to pumpkin. It's in Italian, but if you want to come around and peruse with guidance then I can translate what inspires... :)