Pumpkin Ideas

With Halloween just around the corner parents will be busy carving out pumpkins for the little ones to enjoy. Don't forget though that pumpkins are for eating too.

They are an ideal weaning food as they can be boiled and mashed. The easiest way to cook pumpkins are to halve them, scoop out the seeds and then chop into pieces and then either boil, roast or microwave. The skins are much easier to remove after they have been cooked. Some tasty ways to cook are:

Mashed Pumpkin Cook cubes of squash in a microwave with a couple of cloves of garlic, and mash with butter and a bit of cream . You can combine with carrots for a colorful and tasty mash.- very nice with fish, steak, chicken or sausages.

Roasted Pumpkin Leave skin on and cut up as you would for potatoes, add a crushed clove of garlic, drizzle with olive oil. Cook as you would for roast potatoes but won't take as long.

Pumpkin or Squash Risotto. Steam or microwave chunks of pumpkin until soft. Cook some chopped onion and garlic in a little olive oil until soft. Add 150g of risotto rice and gradually add 3/4 - 1 litre of liquid (chicken stock, veg stock etc) stirring frequently until all the liquid has been absorbed. Mash the butternut squash and mix into the risotto. Add some bacon for a really tasty dish.

Pumpkin Soup. You can use butternut squash too for this recipe as it's sweet and therefore popular with children. Fry a finely chopped onion and a finely chopped clove of garlic in a small amount of olive oil. De-seed the squash with a large dessert / soup spoon. Peel and chop it into cubes.
Add the butternut squash cubes to the frying pan, add a teaspoon of turmeric (optional) and saute for a further 5 minutes. Season with black pepper. Add a litre of stock and simmer for half an hour. Puree in a blender.

Have fun this halloween!