Pumpkin?

[zxcvbob]

I posted this in rec.food.cooking. Later realized that I should have crossposted it to r.g.e (and maybe r.f.p):

I grew green striped cushaws in my garden this year (a long-necked pumpkin) and instead of getting a bunch of small pumpkins like I planned, I got 2 or 3 small ones and two big ones. I just baked the smaller of the big ones, then ran the cooked flesh thru a food mill. I ended up with 8 cups of puree. It's yellow rather than orange, and my dog says it tastes delicious (I gave him a piece of the cooked skin, and let him lick the roaster.)

Now what? Do I need to put it in a cheesecloth bag and let it drip?

There's enough here for 4 pies, and the other big pumpkin weighs at least 25 pounds (probably twice as big as this one.) What else do you do with pumpkin besides make pies?

I know it freezes really well, so I plan on freezing it in 2-cup containers.

Bob

[Pat Kiewicz]

I like to blend the more watery squashes with drier flesh types, myself, especially for making pumpkin pie. But for soups and cakes a more moist puree is best.

Ooh, pumpkin (squash) soup is nice. Loads of recipes available. (I like to season them with nutmeg and cayenne pepper.)

Pumpkin waffles (or pancakes) are great. Subtitute pumpkin puree for some/most of the liquid ingredient in making the batter. Spice it up with pumpkin pie spices. Especially good with whole grain flour blends. (We mix barley, brown rice, oat, and soy or chick-pea flours with unbleached and white whole wheat flour.) Most excellent with home-made spiced apple jelly, which I'm in the midst of making right now.

Then there are pumpkin muffins and breads.

And you can make ice cream, or pumpkin custard (think pies, without the shells).

I like to freeze puree in quart zipper bags, a little more than half filled, then flattened out to freeze. They stack up pretty nicely and defrost very quickly.

Squashes can usually be stored a few months before you need to process them. I do a lot of that in January. Right now I've got a few dozen assorted 'pumpkins' (mostly kabocha with a few butternuts) sitting on a counter in my utility room.

[tuckermor]

I second the soup!

Also, if you go to the library and get an African cookbook, you might find some interesting recipes. Or google for pumpkin pickles. I made some of those for Thanksgiving one year. They were actually not bad, although definitely odd. And it was fun to hear people burst into gales of laughter when I told them what I was doing.

[CanopyCo]

I slice it up like French fry and fry it in olive oil.

[Glenna Rose]

I have cooked it like acorn squash, with butter and brown sugar. Pumpkin is a squash, after all, and should do well in any squash type recipe.

Have you tried pumpkin soup? Pumpkin bread? Pumpkin cake? Pumpkin ice cream?

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