Pumpkin Recipes

Pumpkin Chocolate Brownie
300 g peeled & cubed pumpkin
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup light muscavado sugar
3 eggs
2 ½ tablesp vegetable oil 
1 cup plain flour
1 teasp baking powder
4 heaped teasps cocoa
1/3  teasp ground cinnamon
1/3 teasp ground allspice
1/3 level teasp ground nutmeg
¼ level teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Pumpkin preparation:   Preheat oven to 360^oF, 180^oC, Gas Mark 5.
Peel, de-seed pumpkin, cut into 1cm cubes. Place in a baking tray and drizzle with a little vegetable oil. Roast on baking tray with a little veg oil for 30-45 minutes or until soft. Mash with a fork.
Cake making:    Turn the oven down to 350^oF, 170^oC, Gas Mark 4.
Mix pumpkin, both sugars, eggs and oil in a large mixing bowl.
Beat until blended. Add the flour, baking powder, cocoa, salt and spices.
Beat until mixture is smooth.  Stir in the chocolate chips.
Bake in greased/lined 8 inch square tin for 25-30 minutes or until inserted skewer is clean when withdrawn. Cool in tin & cut into 16x2 inch squares.

Pumpkin Bread

2 cups pumpkin chunks
2 cups water
3 cups strong wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons of dried yeast
 ¼ cup olive oil
2 teaspoons salt 
3 cups + strong white flour 

Boil 2 cups of pumpkin chunks in 2 cups of water until soft, leave to stand for five minutes.  Add yeast and 3 cups of wholemeal flour, beat well then leave to raise in a warm place for 30 minutes.  Add olive oil and salt, mix then add 3 cups of white flour, knead until soft and elastic adding more white flour as required, divide into two loaves.  Put them to rest on oiled baking sheets and let them rise in a warm place for 30 mins.
Bake at 200⁰C until golden (about 40 mins)


Pumpkin Soup

1 oz butter
1 onion chopped
7 oz potatoes chopped
2 lb pumpkin diced
9oz carrots diced
2 pints veg stock
¼ pint milk
grated nutmeg
salt+pepper

Melt butter, cook onion, add rest of veg, cook 5 mins. Add stock and boil for 10 mins. Liquidise then finally add milk.

Pumpkin or Squash Risotto

25g butter
2 tbs olive oil
1 onion
1 clove garlic
400g arboretti rice
1.5 litres hot stock
1 medium pumpkin or squash, chopped into small pieces
100ml vermouth or dry white wine
150g parmesan shavings, seasoning.

Sweat chopped onion & garlic in melted butter and olive oil. Add dry arboretti rice and keep stirring till it’s coated in the oily juices & turns transparent. Add vermouth/wine stirring, let liquid evaporate then add a ladleful of stock. Simmer, adding chopped pumpkin and stir thoroughly. Continue to add the stock one ladle at a time, letting it get absorbed before adding the next one. It’ll develop a creamy consistency; add sufficient stock to avoid it getting stodgy.  Rice should cook in about 15mins, test by tasting. Then stir in parmesan shavings, season to taste, put the lid on and let it stand for 3 mins before serving.

Pumpkin or Squash Hummus

Finely chop a couple of small chilies and some garlic (according to taste), gently soften & fry in olive oil, then cook with chopped up squash flesh and a small bit of water in a saucepan till soft enough to mash.

The mixture will be a bit more damp than hummus but it’s nice on pitta bread, toast or as a side dish.

Pumpkin Curry with Lentils

1 tsp Yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tbsp oil
½ tsp ground Turmeric
1 tsp ground Cumin
1 tsp ground Coriander
Pinch of chilli powder
1 tsp finely chopped fresh root ginger
½ tsp chopped fresh chilli including seeds
2 cloves garlic
1 onion sliced
450g diced pumpkin (1.5cm squares approx.)
100g green lentils (dry weight)
50g sachet creamed coconut
400g tin chopped tomatoes
500ml water
Salt & pepper to taste
Fresh coriander and natural yoghurt to serve

Par-boil the lentils in water for 10 minutes, then drain.
Meanwhile, as the spices will be added in three stages, sort them into separate piles or pots. The mustard and cumin seeds in one. Fresh ginger, chilli and garlic in another, and finally the ground turmeric, cumin, coriander and chilli in another. Then slice the onion and peel and dice the pumpkin.

Heat a pan with the oil and add the mustard and cumin seeds. As soon as they begin to pop add the onion and fry until soft.

Now add the fresh ginger, chilli and garlic and fry few a minute or two until aromatic and then add the ground turmeric, cumin, coriander and chilli powder and fry for a minute to toast them off slightly.

Now add the tinned tomatoes, water and cream coconut mixing them together. Then add the pumpkin and lentils. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes (if the mixture becomes dry during cooking, top up with water or coconut milk).

Finally season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with a sprinkle of fresh coriander and natural yoghurt.

Pumpkin, Walnut and Goats Cheese Rosti

250g pumpkin, grated
½ onion finely chopped
100g goats cheese
1 egg
2tsp mixed dried herbs (usually, parsley, thyme, sage) – or add fresh herbs if preferred.
40g walnuts, roughly chopped
Olive oil for frying

Add the pumpkin, onion, egg, herbs and walnuts and mix well. Crumble in the goats cheese and stir (if the cheese is of a soft variety mix in well with the mixture). Heat a frying pan with the oil and when hot spoon in the mixture and flatten in the pan into a small flat cakes roughly the size of scotch pancakes. Fry on each side until crisp and golden.

Can be eating as a starter or served with accompaniments of your choice as part of a main course.