These Pumpkin Recipes Will Have You Rethinking Fall Dining (2024)

FAQs

What is the best way to cook pumpkin? ›

Cooking the Pumpkin

If you're roasting, roast at 400 F for 35 to 45 minutes or until the flesh is soft. If you're steaming, fill your steamer pot with a few inches of water, bring it to a boil.

Pumpkin innards, the stringy orange mess which you scoop out with a spoon ahead of carving, can be roasted, or pureed for cooking in soups.

Roasted Mini Pumpkins make a gorgeous fall themed side dish and are quit easy to prepare. Whether you fill them with a rice pilaf or try something a bit more complicated, these little pumpkins make delightful table mates and edible dishware.

Once cultivation altered the pumpkin enough to make it palatable, American Indians used every bit of the plant—seeds, flesh, flowers, and leaves. Pumpkins and squashes of all sorts could be baked or roasted whole in a fire, cut up and boiled, added to soups and stews, or made into porridge and pudding.

Microwave tip: Place washed pumpkin in a shallow heatproof, microwave-safe dish. Cover and cook on High/800watts/100% for 4-6 minutes or until just tender.

No need to peel

For thicker skinned squash it is often easier to cut the squash into large wedges, roast, and then peel the skin off after it's cooked when it's softer and easier.

And, don't forget the tasty pumpkin leaves and flowers are also edible. Even the pumpkin vines are edible. However, the stem, skin, and stringy sinews inside the fruit are not used in cooking or baking.

Answer. A pumpkin, from a botanist's perspective, is a fruit because it's a product of the seed-bearing structure of flowering plants. Vegetables, on the other hand, are the edible portion of plants such as leaves, stems, roots, bullbs, flowers, and tubers.

What kind of pumpkin do you have? Carving pumpkins tend to have thinner walls and flesh that is stringy (think: spaghetti squash) and flavorless but relatively easy to carve. You'll often find them displayed outside grocery stores.

Mini pumpkins are predominately used as an ornamental and are commonly found as a table decoration, but they can also be cooked and used in a variety of culinary applications.

Can you eat porch pumpkins? ›

Can that large pumpkin sitting on your front porch still be used for eating? Sure — as long as it is in good condition and hasn't' yet been carved. Pumpkins typically used for jack-o'-lanterns usually are larger, with stringier pulp and more watery flesh.

Much like a Delicata squash, the skin on the Black Fatsu is edible. When you cut into a Black Fatsu you'll see a crisp, bright orange interior. When raw, the flesh is sweet with a slightly nutty flavor, and when cooked, the flavor deepens into a taste similar to roasted chestnuts with a smooth, creamy texture.

Yes, dogs can eat pumpkin and it is actually often added to dog foods. Check the label of some dog treats and you may find pumpkin on the ingredient list there too. However, if you are feeding fresh pumpkin, you will need to be careful about which part you're feeding as the stem and leaves are covered in prickly hairs.

For even more flavor, you can add spices (like the celebrated pumpkin pie spice!) to the purée during the cooking step. Heating spices “blooms” them, releasing their flavorful, fragrant oils.

Two of the best ways to cook the pumpkins for puree are steaming and roasting. I prefer steaming because it is quicker and easier when making a lot of puree at once. To steam, place the pieces of cleaned pumpkin in a roasting pan and fill the bottom with an inch of water.

Try eating pumpkin raw: trim off the skin, slice the flesh thin like a tortilla chip using a mandolin, and have it with garlicky hummus! Use in cakes, custards, cookies, breads, muffins, homemade pasta, ravioli… ours never lasts that long… Make pumpkin pie.

There are a few ways you can prepare your pumpkin, I recommend either steaming it or oven roasting/baking it. Both of them are great, but I feel like the roasting brings out a little more of the sweetness due to sugar caramelization. Steaming seems to cook faster, however, there's usually a bit more prep involved.