Pumpkin seems to be one of those vegies that most people either love or they hate with a passion! My daughter is the former, my husband and son the latter, and as for myself, unless its baked or mashed up with loads of potato, I generally wouldn't give you "thank you" for it. But whenever we have a roast, my daughter demands that it absolutely must include baked pumpkin. That always left me with a bit of a problem about what to do with the rest of the dreaded orange veg! So I've come up with some rather sneaky ways to get everyone else in the house to eat it. Here's five of my fave alternative ways to dish up pumpkin for yummy, cheap eats that fool even the most discerning six-year-old.
Recipe number 1: Pumpkin vichyssoise:
The perfect hearty meal for cooler winter evenings.Ingredients
750 g pumpkin
2 large onions
250 g potatoes
3 chicken stock cubes
1 litre (4 cups) water
1 cup cream
salt & pepper
Method:
1: Peel pumpkin, cut into small pieces, place in large saucepan.
2: Add peeled and chopped onions, peeled and chopped potatoes, crumbled stock cubes and water.
3: Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 25 minutes or until vegetables are very soft and tender.
4: Push vegetables and liquid through a fine sieve or puree in blender.
5: Return puree to saucepan, add cream, salt and pepper.
6: Bring to boil, stirring, reduce heat, simmer for further 5 minutes.
Hint: If you think the quantity is going to be too much for your family to eat at once, you can always freeze a portion of the soup. Just make sure you remove what you want to freeze before the cream goes in. Plastic Chinese take away containers or larger plastic butter or margarine tubs are perfect for this.
Recipe number 2: Pan-barbecued pumpkin and bacon damper:
The perfect impressive accompaniment to serve with soups or hearty casseroles.
Ingredients:
375g chopped pumpkin
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tblsp milk
2 rashers bacon, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dry mustard
60g butter
Method:
1: Boil pumpkin until tender, drain and push through sieve, giving you about 1 cup mashed pumpkin.
2: Stir in egg and milk.
3: Cook bacon and onion in pan until lightly browned, remove from heat.
4: Sift flour, pepper and mustard into bowl, rub in butter, add bacon and onion.
5: Stir in pumpkin mixture.
6: Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead lightly until smooth.
7: Press out to about 3 cm thickness with hand, place dough into large, greased, heavy-based shallow pan or place directly onto greased barbecue plate.
8: Using a sharp knife, mark into wedges 1 cm deep.
9: Place pan on barbecue plate and cook over a medium heat until damper is cooked through, about 30 minutes, turning several times during the cooking process.
Serve hot with butter.
Recipe number 3: Deliciously nutritious wholemeal pumpkin quiche:
This one is a particular favourite in my house, although I've never actually told them they are eating pumpkin!
Ingredients:
Wholemeal pastry:
1 cup wholemeal plain flour
1/4 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
1/4 cup wheatgerm or unprocessed bran
125 g butter
1 tblsp water, approximately
Filling:
15g butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 rashers bacon, chopped
1 cup mashed pumpkin (about 375 g pumpkin boiled will give one cup of mashed pumpkin. Left over boiled pumpkin can be used as long as it hasn't been mashed with milk, butter or cream.)
3 eggs
300 ml carton cream
1/2 cup grated tasty cheese
1 tblsp chopped chives
Method:
Wholemeal pastry:
1: Sift flours into bowl, add wheatgerm.
2: Rub in butter, add enough water to mix to a firm dough, cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.
3: Preheat oven to moderately hot.
4: Roll pastry out large enough to line a 23 cm flan tin, trim edges, line with grease proof paper, fill with dried beans or uncooked rice (known as blind baking).
5: Bake in moderately hot oven 7 minutes, remove paper and beans/rice, and bake for further 7 minutes.
6: Remove from oven.
7: Reduce oven heat to moderate.
Filling:
1: Melt butter in pan, add onion and bacon, cook, stirring, until onion is soft.
2: Combine pumpkin, eggs, cream, cheese and chives in bowl and then whisk whisk in onion and bacon mixture.
3: Pour filling into pastry case and bake in moderate oven for about 30 minutes or until set.
Hint: If you are feeling "lazy", can't be bothered making the pastry, or just haven't got time, just substitute it for frozen packet puff pastry from the supermarket. Cook in flan tin as per instructions on packet and fill as per recipe.
Recipe number 4: Pumpkin & sultana muffins:
This one is sure to score brownie points and have the most hardened pumpkin hater gobbling them down - just don't mention the "P" word!
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups plain flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sultanas
60g melted butter
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup of milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
Method:
1: Preheat oven to hot (about 200 degrees for ordinary oven, 180 degrees for fan forced)
2: Sift flour, baking powder & cinnamon into bowl, add sugar.
3: Stir in sultanas.
4: Make a well in the centre and add melted butter, pumpkin, milk and egg.
5: Mix the centre ingredients together and then incorporate flour mix to make a lightly mixed and rather lumpy batter.
6: Spoon batter into muffin tins.
7: Bake in hot oven for about 15-20 minutes or until a skewer poked into the centre comes away clean.
Hint: These little babies freeze quite well too. Put them on one of those foam trays that your meat comes on from the supermarket, place them in a freezer bag and tie closed to protect them from freezer burn.
Recipe number 5: Pumpkin scones:
An all time Australian favourite, particularly associated with Flo, wife of former QLD Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, although this probably isn't the recipe she used!
Ingredients:
45g butter
1 tblsp brown sugar
1/2 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups self raising flour
Pinch salt
1/2 cup sultanas
Melted butter to glaze
Method:
1: Preheat oven to hot (about 200 degrees C for ordinary oven or 180 degrees C for fan forced).
2: Cream butter and sugar together, then mix in pumpkin.
3: Stir in egg and milk.
4: Sift flour and salt and add to creamed mixture with sultanas.
5: Knead a few times on a lightly floured surface, then pat out to about 2 cm thickness.
6: Cut into rounds with a floured scone cutter. Haven't got a scone cutter? A medium circumference drinking glass floured on top will work just as well.
7: Place cut scones on greased baking tray and brush tops with melted butter.
8: Bake in hot oven for 15 minutes, until well risen, golden brown on top and cooked through.
Delicious served hot, halved and buttered. Perfect with honey too, for something just a little bit sweeter.
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