Fall Pumpkin Recipes

The weather has been cooling down and I've been particularly tempted to make some fall-inspired dishes. Some of my favourite fall ingredients are pumpkin and squash, so those took a major place in the dishes that I cooked this week.

I've made several pumpkin pies in the last few years, but I've never made one with fresh pumpkin puree, as the canned always seemed more convenient. Today, however, I purchased a pie pumpkin for $2 with the purpose of using it in pumpkin pie. I chose to follow the joy of baking website's recipe for the filling, while I used the "Earth To Table" cookbook's recipe for a pate brisee crust. Since the recipe for the filling didn't give directions on how to prepare the puree, I improvised by cutting the stem off the pumpkin, cutting the pumpkin in half, and roasting it in the oven for approximately a half hour at 450 degrees Fahrenheit until the flesh was tender. Once the puree was done, making the filling was easy by scraping two cups of the flesh out of the pumpkin and mixing it with just some eggs, spices, brown sugar, and evaporated milk. I really enjoyed the flavour of the pie as it was slightly more pumpkin-y and less sweet than other pumpkin pies.

Pumpkin Soup

Since the recipe for the pumpkin pie filling used such a small amount of the pie pumpkin's flesh, I decided to use the rest of it to make a pureed pumpkin soup. My family has sage growing in our garden and so my sister and I decided to use it to gain some earthiness in the soup. It ended up being really delicious and fresh tasting. Here is a recipe of what we did:

Ingredients

1/2 a roasted pie pumpkin
4 tbsp butter divided in half
1 onion, diced
chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, or water to cover (we used a cup of chicken stock, and lots of water to cover)
6 sage leaves, julienne
salt and pepper to taste
2 or 3 pinches nutmeg
3 or 4 tsp brown sugar

Directions

1. Melt two tablespoons of the butter in a saucepan and saute onion until translucent
2. Scoop the roasted flesh out of the pumpkin and add to your saucepan
3. Cover immediately with water or stock, and season with sage leaves, salt and pepper, nutmeg, and brown sugar, and heat through completely
4. Puree soup with a handheld blender or in a food processor
5. Finish by melting in the two remaining tablespoons of butter
6. Check seasonings and serve