Halloween is only a few weeks away and every year this festival seems to be getting bigger and bigger. When I was growing up apples and nuts were the only foods associated with Halloween, but nowadays it is a big deal with pumpkins, squashes, and the like featuring on menus all over the county.
Therefore I thought that it might be an idea to share some recipes with you, in case you are planning a spooky meal in your home. Most houses buy a pumpkin at this time of the year. We scoop out the flesh and the seeds and throw them away and carve a fiendish face on the pumpkin shell.
Pumpkin soup with pumpkin seed pesto
These days, throwing out food for no reason is crazy. Pumpkins are lovely to eat and very easy to prepare, scooping out the flesh is the hardest job, so why not make something tasty with it?
Ingredients
1 pumpkin
1 chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 pints of chicken stock
Salt and pepper
¼ pint of cream
Pesto
Basil leaves
1 garlic clove
Olive oil
Salt
Toasted pumpkin seeds
Method
Firstly, chop up the pumpkin flesh into chunks, removing all the seeds. Heat a little oil or butter in a saucepan and add the onion, garlic, and pumpkin, and cook them without colour for a few minutes. Then add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer until the pumpkin is cooked. Blend the soup with a food blender, check the seasoning and put it back on the heat and add the cream, for a lovely warm starter.
To take this very simple soup to a slightly higher level, I like to garnish and further flavour it with a homemade pesto, substituting nuts with the pumpkin seeds. Lay the seeds on a tray with some oil and salt and cook until toasted in a hot oven. This takes about five or six minutes. When cool and crispy, simply blend the toasted pumpkin seeds with the oil, garlic, and basil leaves. Drizzle the pesto over the soup and it will enhance the flavour, and overall presentation of the dish. The best part is that it is all free. You had bought the pumpkin for a decoration and now, with a tiny bit of work have a starter worthy of Halloween.
Pumpkin pie
Pumpkin pie is an American staple, delicious and tasty, served warm with ice cream. I always make my own sweet pastry, just using a basic recipe, but if you want to buy a shop bought pastry case, get one freshly made from your local food store about nine inches in diameter and 1½ inches deep. This recipe needs a good bit of work, but the end product makes it worth it.
Ingredients
1lb prepared weight pumpkin flesh (cut into one inch chunks )
2 large eggs, plus 1 yolk
3 oz soft dark brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ level teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground ginger
275ml double cream
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F. To make the filling, steam the pumpkin then place in a coarse sieve and press lightly to extract any excess water. Then lightly whisk the eggs and extra yolk together in a large bowl. Place the sugar, spices, and the cream in a pan, bring to simmering point, giving it a whisk to mix everything together. Then pour it over the eggs and whisk it again briefly. Now add the pumpkin puree, still whisking to combine everything thoroughly.
Pour the filling into your pastry case and bake for 35-40 minutes, by which time it will puff up around the edges but still feel slightly wobbly in the centre. Remove the pie from the oven and place the tin on a wire cooling rack. Serve chilled with a dollop of freshly whipped cream, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, delicious. It is great to make something so tasty out of something that has traditionally been thrown away. This is such a simple recipe, quite cheap to make and fantastic to eat after a long night of answering the door to the ‘trick or treaters.’
If you want a recipe for anything at all, or have a cooking question that you want answered, contact me on [email protected] and I will do my best to answer it. More spooky Halloween recipes next week.
