This is great! Thank you so much. I'm going to give it a try. Wish
me luck. Can't imagine how you peal a pumpkin though. Lol. I may go for the
baking in the oven method.
Jeri
Jeri
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Helen Whitehead
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2012 5:20 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [CnD] Cooking a Pumpkin
Cooking and freezing fresh pumpkin
Below are general cooking and preparation instructions, and you don't have
to use the mashed pumpkin right away. Pumpkin purée can be frozen in
portions.
Spoon cooled, mashed pumpkin into freezer containers, leaving 1/2-inch
headspace.
To Steam: Halve the pumpkin; remove seeds, pulp, and stringy portion. Cut
into small pieces and peel. Place in a steamer or metal colander which will
fit in a covered pot. Put over boiling water, cover, and steam for about 50
minutes, or until tender. Mash, purée in a blender or food processor, or put
through a food mill. Use in any recipe calling for pumpkin purée.
To Boil: Halve the pumpkin; remove seeds, pulp, and stringy portion. Cut
into small pieces and peel. Cover with lightly salted water; boil for about
25
minutes, or until tender. Mash, purée in a blender or food processor, or
put through a food mill. Use in any recipe calling for pumpkin purée.
A 5-pound pumpkin will yield about 4 1/2 cups of mashed, cooked pumpkin. One
can of pumpkin, 15 to 16 ounces, yields about 2 cups of mashed pumpkin.
"Here is an easy method for cooking fresh pumpkin and making your own
puree." - Vi
Directions
list of 4 items
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. Cut pumpkin into small manageable pieces and cut off pith and seeds.
3. Place cut pumpkin skin side up in a large roasting pan. Add 1/4 inch of
water and bake uncovered for 1 hour or until tender. Remove from oven and
allow pumpkin to cool.
4. When cooled, cut away skin and mash or puree. Use in any recipe that
calls for canned pureed pumpkin.
list end
How to Cook a Pumpkin to have Pumpkin Puree to Make Pumpkin Recipes!
You probably take canned pumpkin for granted. You're there, the can is
there, there's a pumpkin on the label... open it and mix it up with spices
to make a pie, right. Ah, but a pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread
made from a fresh pumpkin tastes so much better than the glop that was
processed last year! Here's how to do it, complete instructions in easy
steps and completely illustrated. And it is much easier than you think,
using my "patented" tips and tricks! You can freeze it for later use, too.
Note:
If you want to can the cooked pumpkin: see this page!
Directions for Making Pumpkin Pie from Scratch Ingredients and Equipment
list of 2 items . a pie pumpkin (see step 1) . A sharp, large serrated knife
list end list of 2 items . an ice cream scoop . a large microwaveable bowl
or large pot list end
Recipe and Directions
Step 1 - Get your pie pumpkin
"Pie pumpkins" are smaller, sweeter, less grainy textured pumpkins than the
usual jack-o-lantern types. grocery stores usually carry them in late
September
through December in the U.S. Note: the Libby's can of cooked pumpkin is
just there for reference - it is the small can, so that gives you an idea of
the size of a typical pie pumpkin. They're only about 8 inches in diameter.
Just like selecting any squash, look for one that is firm, no bruises or
soft spots, and a good orange color.
Yield: Pie pumpkins are small, usually only 6 inches in diameter. You can
usually obtain about 2 or 3 cups or puree per pumpkin.
Step 2 - Prepare the pumpkin for cooking
Wash the exterior of the pumpkin in cool or warm water, no soap.
Cut the pumpkin in half. A serrated knife and a sawing motion works best -
a smooth knife is more likely to slip and hurt you!
Step 3 - Scoop out the seeds...
And scrape the insides. You want to get out that stringy, dangly stuff that
coats the inside surface. I find a heavy ice cream scoop works great for
this.
Note: SAVE THE SEEDS:
The seeds can be used either to plant pumpkins next year, or roasted to eat
this year! Place them in a bowl of water and rub them between your hands.
then pick out the orange buts (throw that away) and drain off the water.
Spread them out on a clean towel or paper towel to dry and they're ready to
save for next year's planting or roast.
Click here for roasting instructions!
(opens in a new window)
Step 4 - Cooking the pumpkin
There are several ways to cook the pumpkin; just choose use your preferred
method. Most people have microwaves, and the use the least energy, so I'll
describe that here. But others make good arguments in favor of using a
pressure cooker, steaming on the stovetop or baking in the oven. I'll
describe microwaving here, and at the end of this document, I've included
alternative instructions to replace step 4, if you'd rather use a different
method.
Put it in a microwaveable bowl
Remove the stem, and put the pumpkin into a microwaveable. You may need to
cut the pumpkin further to make it fit. The fewer the number of pieces, the
easier it will to scoop out the cooked pumpkin afterwards.
Put a couple of inches of water in the bowl, cover it, and put in the
microwave.
Step 5 - Cook the pumpkin until soft
Cook for 15 minutes on high, check to see if it is soft, then repeat in
smaller increments of time until it is soft enough to scoop the innards out.
Normally
it takes 20 or 30 minutes in total.
Note: You can also cook it on the stovetop; it takes about the same length
of time in a steamer. I use a double pot steamer, but you could use an
ordinary large pot with a steamer basket inside it!:
pumpkin_steaming
pumpkin_cooking_in_the_steamer
steamer to cook pumpkins
Step 6 - Scoop out the cooked pumpkin
Whether you cook the pumpkin on the stove, microwave, or even the oven, once
it is cooked until it is soft, it is easy to scoop out the guts with a
broad, smooth spoon, (such as a tablespoon). Use the spoon to gently lift
and scoop the cooked pumpkin out of the skin. It should separate easily an
in fairly large chucks, if the pumpkin is cooked enough.
pumpkin cooked, pickling off the skin
Many times the skin or rind will simply lift off with your fingers (see the
photo at left) . I'll bet you didn't realize making your own pumpkin
glop...
err, "puree" was this easy!
Note: there are many varieties of pumpkin and some make better pies that
other (due to sugar content, flavor, texture and water content. Drier,
sweeter, fine-grained pies; the small (8" across) ones called "pie pumpkins"
are best. If your pumpkin is more watery than the puree in the photo at
right (there should not be any free water), you may want to let it sit for
30 minutes and then pour off any free water. That will help prevent your
pie from being too watery!
Tip from a visitor: "I make my own pumkin pies from scratch all the time. To
eliminate watery pumpkin I strain my pureed pumpkin through a cloth
overnight.
If I use frozen pumpkin I do the same again as it thaws out. It works great
and my pies cook beautifully."
Step 7 - Puree the pumpkin
To get a nice, smooth consistency, I use a Pillsbury hand blender. A
regular blender works, too (unless you made a few frozen daiquiris and drank
them first..). Or even just a hand mixer with time and patience.
With the hand blender, it just takes 2 or 3 minutes!
Step 8 - Done with the pumpkin!
The pumpkin is now cooked and ready for the pie recipe. Get the frozen
daiquiris out from step 7 and take a break! :)
It's ready to pop in the fridge or freezer (just pack it containers, like
Ziploc bags or plastic containers, exclude as much air as you can, and
freeze
it!)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeri Milton"<[email protected]>
To:<[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 10:55 PM
Subject: [CnD] Cooking a Pumpkin
Have any of you ever cooked a pumpkin? We have a medium size pumpkin that my
little boy picked from a pumpkin patch. We're not going to be home tomorrow
night to carve and set it out front, so we're thinking about cooking it.
I've always wanted to make a pumpkin pie totally from scratch. At least once
in my life anyway. Lol. Any recipes?
Jeri
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