Eat Fresh - Pumpkins

Published October 25, 2006 in The Spectrum & Daily News

By Kathryn van Roosendaal

I definitely have a soft spot in my heart — and stomach — for pumpkins.

I will never forget one year growing up when we ended up with a bunch of pumpkins despite not planting any. Apparently we hadn’t cleaned up well enough after the previous year’s pumpkin carving, and the renegade seeds gladly sprouted next to the back porch. We never watered or fertilized the things, but they went berserk regardless. We had pumpkins coming out of our ears — and growing through the windows. I returned from summer camp to find one of the vines had broken through the screen on the window to my basement bedroom and several of the fruits were happily growing on the top bunk bed.

Whether we grew our own or not, my family always had pumpkins in the fall. We would spend hours picking just the right one for carving, and after Halloween those Jack-O-Lanterns were sacrificed on the altar of pumpkin pie and cookies. We would stick the scary faces whole into the oven to bake, and I loved watching them “melt” as the squash cooked and softened.

I haven’t cooked any Jack-O-Lanterns in the past few years; the autumns here are too warm and they rot too quickly after carving. But I still find myself a pumpkin or two just for cooking.

For cooking purposes, you want a nice, heavy pumpkin with smooth skin and thick flesh. When you get it home, cut it in half, scoop out the seeds (be sure to save them for roasting) and place the halves rind side up on a cookie sheet. Poke a few hole in it and bake at 325 degrees F for an hour or so, or until it starts to sag and is soft when you poke it with a fork. Let it cool before scraping out the cooked flesh, then run it through a ricer or blender until it is smooth. It is now ready to put in pies, cookies or breads or can be stored in the freezer for up to a year.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mom has made these for as long as I can remember, and they are still a big favorite. In fact, I’m munching on one — from the first batch of the season — as I write this.

1 cup butter

1 cup pumpkin (canned or cooked and prepared as listed above)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips (my mom likes milk chocolate, but I prefer semi-sweet)

Cream together butter and sugar. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla and mix well. Sift together the dry ingredients and mix with the pumpkin mixture. Blend in chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 15 minutes or until the cookies start to brown at the edges.

Harvest Stew

This is a nice, rich stew for those chilly autumn nights. And it’s decorative, too.

1 10 to 12 pound pumpkin

2 pound beef stew meat

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 bell pepper, sliced

1 onion, chopped

4 medium potatoes, cubed

3 carrots, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 sticks of celery, sliced

1 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes

2 to 3 cups water

2 or 3 cubes beef bullion

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Carve a hole in the top of the pumpkin and remove seeds and stringy insides. Set aside. In a dutch oven, brown the stew meat in oil. Add the bell pepper, onion, potatoes, carrots, garlic, celery and tomatoes. Add the bullion and enough water cover all the ingredients and let simmer for 1 hour. Place the pumpkin in shallow pan, and put the stew inside the pumpkin. Brush the outside of the pumpkin with a light coating of oil and bake at 350 degrees F for 2 hours or until the pumpkin is tender. While serving, be sure to scoop out chunks of pumpkin along with the stew.