Get ready for Halloween

WITH Halloween coming up next weekend, now is the time to buy your pumpkins.

The pumpkin or squash family comprises more than 800 species that can be divided into summer and winter pumpkins. The softskinned summer ones include zucchini, while the winter pumpkins have a thick, hard shell. In contrast to the summer squash, they are harvested when they are ripe, they contain less water and can also be stored for longer.

Butternut ( calabaza de cacahuete), a very tasty butterysoft squash which is often called is readily available in the Valencia region and can be purchased almost all year round.

Winter pumpkins come in all sizes, colors and patterns like the green and white speckled round figleaved gourd ( Calabaza confitera) with its extremely hard shell, which is used to make the coveted ' Cabello de Ángel' ( angel hair), a filling for Spanish traditional sweet pastries.

In short: no other vegetable on earth is as diverse as the pumpkin. When shopping, you choose ripe specimens with a thick, undamaged skin. Pumpkins with a soft outer are not yet sufficiently ripe. There should also always be a piece of stalk attached to prevent it from drying out.

The pumpkin consists of over 90 percent water and only has about 25 calories per 100 grams, which makes it ideal for a diet. With its balanced mixture of important minerals, trace elements and vitamins, it is an extremely healthy food.

Pumpkins strengthen the immune system, are slightly diuretic, help digestion and inhibit inflammation in the body. But the floury, slightly fibrous, sweetish meat from the pumpkin tastes pretty boring, so you have to spice it up a bit with spices i. e. ginger, chilli, or cinnamon.

It can be steamed and roasted, stewed and filled, baked and pureed and then processed into soups, fillings, cakes and quiches, chutneys or jams.

People who feel the cold should try pumpkin soup, because pumpkin warms you up from the inside, and even more so if the soup is seasoned with curry or chilli, which further stimulate the generation of heat.

Here are a few recipes:

Pumpkin soup with chili

For 4 people: 1 small pumpkin ( calabaza), walnut oil ( aceite de nuez), 2 shallots ( escalonias), 1 bay leaf ( laurel), approx. 2 cl almond syrup ( jarabe de almendra ), 1 to 2 chili peppers ( guindilla), juice of 2 limes ( limas), 1/ 2 l coconut milk ( leche de coco), 1/ 2 l vegetable broth ( caldo de verduras), approx. 2 tbsp crumbled amaretti biscuits ( or ' Rosegones'), 1 sprig of chopped mint ( menta), some grated Parmesan cheese ( queso parmesano)

Cut the pumpkin into eighths, remove the seeds and place the peeled pieces on a baking sheet. Salt and drizzle with walnut oil. Cook in a hot oven at 160 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Place the shallots with the bay leaf and the finely chopped pumpkin pieces in a pot. Remove the peel. Add the almond syrup, the chilli pepper and the lime juice. Top up with coconut milk and vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, puree with the blender and strain through a sieve.

Serve with a few crumbled almond biscuits, chopped mint leaves and some grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Crostini with pumpkin relish

For 4 people: 200 g pumpkin pulp ( calabaza), 3 teaspoons white wine vinegar ( vinagre de vino blanco), 1 small clove of garlic ( ajo) finely diced, 1 red onion ( cebolla roja) finely diced, salt, pepper, 20 g peeled Pumpkin seeds ( pipas de calabaza), 10 ml rapeseed or other vegetable oil ( aceite de colza), 12 slices of ciabatta bread, butter for frying ( mantequilla), pumpkin seeds, basil leaves ( albahaca), lamb's lettuce florets ( canónigo), raw vegetables carrots ( zanahorias) and Kohlrabi ( colinabo)

Cut the pumpkin flesh into very fine cubes. Steam half with white wine vinegar, salt and pepper, then puree. Add the onion cubes with the garlic and the remaining pumpkin cubes to the sauce, mix well, season with salt and pepper.

Roast the pumpkin seeds in a little rapeseed oil and salt.

Brush the bread slices thinly with butter and bake in a preheated oven at 220 degrees until golden brown.

Put a tablespoon of pumpkin relish on each of the crostini, sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and basil leaves. Garnish the crostini with lamb's lettuce florets and serve with raw vegetables.

Pumpkin flan with goat cheese

For 4 people: 200 g pumpkin pulp ( calabaza), 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice ( zumo de limón), 50 ml dry white wine ( vino blanco seco), 60 ml vegetable stock ( caldo de verduras), salt, pepper, cayenne ( cayena), 5 sheets of white gelatin ( gelatina), 120 g fresh goat cheese ( queso fresco de cabra), 100 g cream yoghurt ( yogur griego), 100 g pickled pumpkin ( calabaza en vinagre), 100 g sliced goat cheese ( queso de cabra en lonchas), chopped pistachios ( pistachos)

Dice the pumpkin flesh, fry in oil. Drizzle with lemon juice, wine and stock, cook over low heat for about 20 minutes until soft. Puree, season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste.

Mix gelatine with three tablespoons of pumpkin puree, dissolve, mix with the rest of the pumpkin puree. Put in a cool place until the mixture starts to gel.

Mix the goat cheese with the yogurt. Drain the pickled pumpkin, dice finely. Stir the gelling pumpkin puree once, fold in the yogurt mixture, pumpkin cubes and pistachios. Fill the mousse in layers with cheese slices in flan molds, cover and chill.

To serve, turn out onto a plate and garnish with lettuce leaves and pumpkin seeds.