Friday 19 December 2014

December days - 19

And the pumpkin pies...

baking



and baked!


Now, where is the cream?

Someone asked about all the pumpkin baking...
Over the past years I have been in England it has not been easy to get pumpkin - except at Halloween, and then they are rather weak. Not much colour or flavour. Once in a while I would find tinned pumpkin at Waitrose. As you might know, tinned pumpkin is very thick. So, I would mix a tin in with the cooked down pumpkin to come up with good texture and flavour.

Actually, I still have a tin of pumpkin I found one year, but never used it because it was ‘precious’! Finally I realised it was easier to get Butternut squash, so I have usually got one or two to bake for Christmas. But now that my husband has an allotment, we get quite a few large pumpkins. Last year we had around nine. But I hadn’t got into the habit of using it much because of all the ‘precious’ years. And then he brought home as many again this year! So the last few weeks I have been experimenting with ideas for soup and other pumpkin things (which were too extravagant before) so I could use up the frozen pumpkin from last year.

The tinned pumpkin still has a sell by date for sometime next year. So, maybe when the busy season is over, I will do a search for some challenging or exotic idea of pumpkin and use it for that! For now, I will stick to the familiar and nostalgic along with a warming winter stew/soup now and then.

2 comments:

Kathleen Loomis said...

If you make up a pumpkin custard same as for pie, except without the sugar, it makes a nice vegetable side dish. Bake it in little ramekins (or I guess you could actually make a pie).

Sandy said...

Hi Kathy,
Yes, it is basically a spiced and sweetened quiche!
That is a very good idea though for what to do with all the pumpkin. I am sure the men around here would enjoy trying it at least.
Thanks!
Sandy