How to use a whole baking pumpkin?
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at
5:37 pm
I bought a small baking pumpkin at the farm market and i’m unsure how to use it. How do you prepare it to actually bake with it?
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what I do with my pumpkin is as follows….
You have to cut off the top just as you would carve it….
Then you have to take out all the seeds…
Pre heat the oven to 350….
Cut the Pumpkin in quarters then put it in a cake pan with a little bit of water.
once the oven is preheated put the pumpkin in the oven for about an hour.
Once the pumpkin is tender then you take it out….
Let it cool…
Cut the pumpkin or peel the pumpkin away from the shell then put it in the blender till well blended.
Then I put it in freezer containers till I need it for later use.
You can use it for anything that you want…
Makes awesome bars and pie.
The only way to make pumpkin pie!
You can cook it several ways. Think of it like a squash.
Cut the top and clean it out then you can either bake it, microwave it or boil it, depending on the size, until it’s fork tender. If it’s very large you can cut it into pieces and cook it that way.
I prefer to bake it whole as it makes the kitchen smell good. After it cools peel it and either us a food processor or a strong blender to pulverize it.
I guess you could do it by hand if you don’t have either of those.
And don’t forget to clean and toast the seeds that you pull out.
Mushroom Bourguignonne in a Whole Pumpkin
Recipe
5-6 lbs pumpkin (or kabocha squash)
2 large yellow onions, chopped (or red)
1-2 tablespoon water
1 lb button mushrooms, halved
1/4 cup sliced celery (optional)
1/4 cup white flour (or whole wheat)
2-2 1/2 cups dry red wine
1/4 cup soy sauce
2-3 vegetable bouillon cubes (optional)
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary (2 tsp. fresh)
3 tablespoons dry sherry
1-2 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
fresh ground black pepper
5 garlic cloves, chopped coarsely
Carve a 3" to 4" zigzagged circle in the top of the pumpkin or squash with a sharp knife, remove the top. If the peel is too thick to cut easily, bake the pumpkin at 350*F. for 15 to 20 minutes to soften it. Remove and discard the seeds, and use a large spoon to scrape out the strings.
In a large skillet, saute onions in water for a few minutes. Add the mushrooms and celery, cover and simmer for a few minutes, until they have begun to release their juices. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Then add 2 cups red wine and the remaining ingredients, and cook 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Preheat the oven to 350*F. Pour the stew into the pumpkin and place it in a large, shallow dish(a baking dish or pie plate) and put the top of the pumkin on. Bake until the pumpkin is very soft, about 1 hour. While baking, stir the stew a few times, adding the remaining 1/2 cup wine if too much liquid evaportes or is absorbed.
To serve, spoon out some stew and scrape out some of the pumpkin onto each plate. Enjoy!
you have to take all the seeds out of the inside of them pumpkin than use a cutting board cut the pumpkin carefully into small enough pieces to fit in a bib pot than boil till done or you can peel the skin first but that takes a long time. than at that point it comes like you are cooking potatoes . press it down to get most of the water out than add to you mixture that you do for can pumpkin. also you can take the pumkin cut half and place in the oven to cook after all the seeds are out either way on top of the stove or in the oven Will do for the cooking part.
Pumpkin pie is the obvious… you can make a delicious soup out of pumpkin or stuff it with something like meatloaf! Here’s the recipe for you! Good Luck!
Meatloaf Stuffed Pumpkin
“Log Cabin Campfire Cookin’” by Coleen Sloan
1 small pumpkin, cleaned, will fit inside a 12”, deep, Dutch oven.
Oil
1 ½ lb hamburger
1 medium onion, chopped
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
1 Tbs. Log Cabin seasoning
2 ½ c. Corn Flakes, Wheaties, Cherrio’s, or Shredded Wheat
2 eggs
1 can cream of celery soup
¼ tsp. granulated or powdered garlic
1 can tomato sauce
Mix all ingredients in a bowl, except tomato sauce. Warm
and oil a 12”, deep, Dutch oven. Fill pumpkin with meat mixture and place filled pumpkin inside oven. Pour about 1 ½ c. water in oven and cover. Bake about 1 to 1 ½ hours until done. You can smell the flavors when done.
Serves 6 to 8