Forget carving jack-o’-lanterns, cook that pumpkin
My friend Claire Bessette never met a pumpkin she didn’t want to chop up and cook. Not that she’s opposed to carving jack-o’-lanterns or decorating with a festive burst of orange. It’s just that, well, she loves to cook with pumpkin.
She makes pies, the best pumpkin cookies, and a pumpkin soup that just shouts “Fall is here!”
“My motto for Halloween decorators is ‘Cook, don’t cut,’” said Bessette, a reporter at The Day. She counsels to paint or draw on the outside of the orange orbs and then cook them up for delicious consumption. She’s always on the lookout for pumpkins.
“I do grow my own but it’s never enough for my needs, so I beg from friends and family after Halloween and buy some from farm stands,” she said.
Sure, it’s easy to crack open a can of pumpkin puree to use in your favorite recipe. And yes, it takes more time to buy a fresh pumpkin, scoop out the seeds and bake or boil until it’s soft enough to use in a recipe. But many swear fresh is better.
Judy Whittle of Whittle’s Willow Spring Farm in Mystic recommends the smaller sugar pumpkins for baking and cooking.
“The big ones won’t hurt you, but the sugar pumpkins are small and sweet and grown just for cooking,” she said.
She makes homemade pumpkin pies for the holidays from the pumpkins grown on the 109-yearold family farm, where sugar pumpkins are sold. There’s also a field of giant pumpkins where you can pick out your own. The smaller pumpkins are available this time of year at just about every farm stand and in grocery stores.
Bessette and Whittle both peel, chop and boil the pumpkin, much like you would do with potatoes. When the meat is soft, mash or put it through a food processor. (But no shame in going with canned pumpkin puree. I do not judge.)
The cooking water can be saved and used in soups, and the cooked pumpkin can be frozen and used all winter.
Pumpkins can also be roasted. Roasting a pumpkin is not hard. Cut the pumpkin in half, cut off stem, scoop out the seeds and the stringy insides and place face down in a shallow cooking dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for about 1½ hours or until the flesh is soft. Scoop out and mash with potato masher or puree in food processor or blender. Voila — fresh pumpkin to be used in
any recipe calling for canned pumpkin puree.
Bessette's cookies are from the Betty Crocker Cookbook. She follows the instructions in the ninth printing of the book, dated 1983. She said it's also in older versions because, when she was growing up, her mom made the same cookies. Her pumpkin soup is one she's cobbled together over the years from several different recipes.
And if you're adventurous. I've included a sweet recipe from my sister, who makes this dream cake for family gatherings. Trust me, your friends and family will be impressed.