Making traditional Halloween pumpkins calls not only for fearsome artistic skills but also for a good deal of patience. Nevertheless, carving out a pumpkin, spoonful by spoonful, is one way to spend a rainy autumn afternoon as a family and the kids are bound to have lots of fun.
Once you have finished, though, what are you supposed to do with all the wonderful flesh left over? Low in calories, rich in vitamins, minerals and slow-release carbohydrates, pumpkins are great antioxidants and diuretics. This healthy, tasty vegetable features in a whole host of recipes. Here are just some ideas:
Pasta sauce
One solution is to turn your pumpkin into a pasta sauce. Gently fry some onion in a little extra-virgin olive oil, add the pumpkin, cover and leave to cook in its own juices on a low heat. When it’s soft, add some single cream and stir until it’s all mixed together. Add a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper and pour over the pasta.
Garnish for meat dishes
Pumpkin’s sweet flavour also goes well with meat recipes, including roasts, game, lamb and beef. For example, you can make a simple tasty puree out of potato, a teaspoonful of extra-virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt for every 500 g pumpkin.
Sweet jam
How about turning savoury into sweet? You will need 1 kg pumpkin, 500 g sugar and the juice of 1 lemon. Cook the pumpkin with the sugar on a low heat. Add the lemon juice and leave to cook for about 40 minutes, stirring all the while to make sure it doesn’t stick. The result: a delicious jam that will go a treat with cheese.
