In Good Taste: Pumpkins and pie
Pumpkin Pie
‘First night of Autumn
the moon and pumpkins
face to face’
Lequita Vance-Watkins wrote those lovely words. I adore pumpkins of any shape, size and colour, but I know many who don’t. Recently I cooked roasted pumpkin with crispy sage leaves for a squash sceptic and promised them a taste revelation. After the meal the friend in question assured me that yes I was correct…the crispy sage leaves were in fact delicious and she had eaten them all. Hmmm. I will not give up!
The flavour of pumpkin is enhanced by so many different sweet and savoury additions: bacon, nutmeg, blue cheese, mushrooms, cinnamon, almonds, garlic, goat cheese—the list is endless. I had to buy a book by Nigel Slater once, purely because of a gorgeous photo of a wedge of roasted, garlicky, buttery, crispy-around-the-edges pumpkin. Yum.
This basic dish of roasted pumpkin and red onions is delicious with any roast meat or poultry. Otherwise you could stir the mixture through hot pasta or serve at room temperature as a vegetarian salad, in which case a crumbling of feta over the top would be good.
Roasted Pumpkin with Red Onion
800g peeled pumpkin, cut into 2cm-wide wedges
3 red onions peeled, halved and cut into wedges
(each slice held together by a little bit of root)
4 tablespoons of olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
½ a cup of assorted green and black olives
Fresh sage leaves
Sea salt and pepper
Heat the oven to 220°C. Place the pumpkin and onion in a large roasting pan, toss with the oil and season generously. Place in the hot oven and cook for 40 minutes or until the pumpkin and onion have started to caramelise and go crispy around the edges. Stir the garlic and sage leaves in during the last 15 minutes of cooking. Add the olives right at the end and allow them to heat through before serving the vegetables attractively on a platter.
Pumpkin makes a good vegetarian option due to its substantial flavour and filling nature. A risotto of roasted pumpkin and blue cheese served with a crisp salad is a great mid-week dinner and if you are a meat lover, some crispy bacon is the perfect addition.
Pumpkin and Blue Cheese Risotto
3 tablespoons of butter
1 large leek, thinly sliced (or use an onion)
500g pumpkin, peeled and chopped into 1cm chunks
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
Finely grated zest of one lemon
½ cup of white wine
1½ litres of chicken or vegetable stock, hot
1 cup of aborio rice
100g mild blue cheese, crumbled
½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese
Large bunch of rocket leaves (or use spinach)
Heat the butter in a large heavy-based frying pan. Cook the leek until softened. Add the garlic and pumpkin, lemon and rice. Stir to coat everything well in the butter, and when sizzling add the wine. Use a wooden spoon to scrape everything off the bottom of the pan and stir well. Now add the stock a ladleful at a time and continue to stir, each time making sure the liquid is absorbed before adding the next.
When all the stock has been added, or when the rice is cooked to your liking, remove from the heat and stir in the rocket leaves and both the cheeses. Set aside for the leaves to wilt and the cheese to melt….risotto always tastes better when allowed to rest a moment before eating. Season to taste. If you like an added crunch factor to your meal, this would be great with an apple, celery and walnut salad on the side.
Food writer Diana Henry suggests taking “great smiling wedges of pumpkin and roasting them with the skin on, some knobs of butter and maybe a light sprinkling of soft brown sugar or a drizzle of maple syrup, basting every so often as they cook.” Nigel Slater says, “What works for me is roast pumpkin and sausages. A plate of sweet, caramelised flavours for a cold night.”
Pumpkin works well from the beginning of the meal to the end. Roasted puree stirred into some very garlicky humus is delicious served with crostini, and then of course there is good old pumpkin pie to finish on. This is Digby Laws’ recipe and everything you look for in a pumpkin pie: spicy, creamy and downright delicious. Serve with vanilla ice cream.
Pumpkin Pie
1½ cups cooked, mashed pumpkin
¾ cups of raw sugar
¼ teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of both nutmeg and ginger
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of cloves
3 eggs
200ml evaporated milk
1 cup of milk
23cm short crust pastry shell, uncooked
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Mix together the pumpkin, sugar, salt and spices. Beat the eggs lightly and add to the pumpkin together with both the milks. Blend all thoroughly. Pour into the pastry shell and bake in a hot oven for 40-50 minutes or until pastry is golden and the filling is set.
Fiona Feasey
