Pumpkin Day

You can tell that we here at Slashfood are knee-deep in autumn: some of us are swilling pumpkin beer and mixing pumpkin cocktails; some of us are making comfort food from soup to pot pie; and no few of us are stuffing Halloween candy into our mouths. So what better time to share a slim, marvelous volume devoted to recipes and techniques for autumn's centerpiece ingredient?

Yes, a pumpkin is a squash (and squashes, by the way, are gourds), and so are crooknecks, acorns, butternuts, zucchinis, chayotes, pattypans, carnivals and all of the summer and winter squashes that take center stage in A Harvest of Pumpkins and Squash. The book begins with cookbook author Lou Seibert Pappas' thoughts on squash, from their history to their purchase and preparation, followed by a wonderful and useful squash glossary (squashary?). From there we proceed to squash recipes (squashipes?).

As pumpkin season lands upon us with a slightly squishy thud, allow me to share this recipe for pumpkin cocktails. These are always a huge hit at Thanksgiving, but also enjoyably appropriate for Halloween. Be aware that you need to prepare in advance to give the vodka time to infuse....

Pumpkin season is coming up and without getting in to GMO pumpkins and the nutritional value of ice cream, let's get imaginative and make some pumpkin ice cream, served in a creative way.

• You'll need an ice cream maker (there are even ball shaped models that can be kicked around at partie, though I have never tried one) and a good pumpkin grown for its meat, rather than just its appearance.

• This can be a family endeavor-- messy. In this typical ice cream recipe I would add two cups of good and mashed pumpkin meat. Not too stringy. Make the ice cream and then serve it the carved out pumpkin, lid and all.

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This is a banner year in Millsboro, Del. - it's the 20th anniversary of the famed Punkin Chunkin contest. Inventors and miscreants from all over seek to toss a pumpkin the farthest (up to 4,000 feet for the superstars). It may not be culinary, but it uses up those leftover pumpkins (with their stringy flesh so inferior to butternut squash), and it legitimizes the pastimes of those who spend Halloween surreptitiously hurling pumpkins stolen from their neighbors' porches. Piece of useless trivia: it's called "pie" when your pumpkin releases from the cannon already in pieces. Fire in the hole.

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Yesterday, slashfood was pulling a Charlie Brown, waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Lots of pumpkins all over the place, but here are a few we missed during the first course:

The most important thing in Nic's kitchen is the Baking Sheet, which turns out Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Also baking, but Baking Lowfat, Arienna makes Pumpkin Walnut Muffins, with a nutty, crunchy topping.

Joe, who gets Culinary in the Desert, also bakes with pumpkins and walnuts, but his focaccia bread is savory, not sweet!

Pumpkin Soup with Goat Cheese is Glorious Farm Food from Tana.

Becky might be working in Two Foot Kitchen, but she turns out amazing Sage Scented Pumpkin Bleu Cheese Custards.

That's the entire buffet for now!

My husband and my long-time ex-boyfriend have very little in common. One thing they do share, however, is an aversion to savory squash dishes. No matter how lovingly I'd prepare, say, acorn squash stuffed with lentils, or butternut soup flavored with paprika and cumin; they'd both turn up their noses. "Pumpkin is just for pies," each would say. My husband, the more generous of the two (hence his status as my husband), would gamely take a serving. And barely make a dent.

"I love you, I just can't eat savory squash," was the message. Come dessert time, the pumpkin pies and pumpkin cheesecakes would disappear in a whirlwind of whipped cream, my gourmet ways with squash finally appreciated. I wonder: is this a guy thing? Or do some people just come hard-wired to appreciate both the sweet and the savory aspects of these velvety winter veggies? Will you eat your pumpkin spicy?

I love pumpkin pie. I bake pumpkin pie, I eat pumpkin pie at every holiday gathering, I take home leftover pumpkin pie and have it for breakfast. In the time between the start of Halloween festivities (which seems to start earlier and earlier every year) and the holidays at the end of the year, I'll have overdosed on pumpkin pie, swearing that I'll never eat it again. (Until next October, of course.)

So in an effort to add some variety to the fall/winter dessert repertoire, I bake a pumpkin cheesecake at least once. It's a little more work than the evaporated milk and canned pumpkin that go into a pie, but what else would I be doing on a Saturday night?!

 I think our esteemed team leader down the pumpkin patch gulag was under the impression I was going to do a post on pumpkin AND chocolate!

Not on your life! Having already subjected my taste buds to such delights as Citrouille au Jammon De Bayonne and Nigel Slater's Spiced Pumpkin Soup with Bacon (have I mentioned that I really don't like pumpkin.. .or swede, or parsnips or mushy peas come to that??) there is only one thing that will save me know - Chocolate Pumpkin!

Oh yes baby... come to the scribbler....

(Orange flavoured chocolate pumpkin filled with orange and milk chocolate drops, £6.99 from Pa Pa Paa)

I've eaten my way through most of the squash alphabet, starting with "acorn" and "butternut" and working my way down to "spaghetti" and "turban." I've also sliced, peeled, and hacked my way into them. It's sometimes a challenge, and other times downright dangerous (but I still have all my fingers, so I've got that going for me). I've found a couple of things:

• most squashes are interchangeable in recipes
  
• most squashes are hard to cut
• all squashes can be cooked the same way, if recipes escape you: slice them in half, scoop out the seeds, place cut side down on a baking sheet, bake at 350 degrees until tender

Once the baked squash comes out of the oven, you can add butter and sugar, maybe nutmeg and cinnamon, for a sweet side dish; or fill with something savory, like lentils or rice pilaf. I love Indian and North African spices with squash; cumin, coriander, cloves, cayenne or chipotle pepper, ginger. I think squash is delicious, but I stay away from the big ones unless I'm making pies or soup for a crowd.

Kabocha or Japanese pumpkin has slightly sweet taste, and it is cooked in many different ways in Japanese cuisine. Tempura is a one way (my favorite) but I also love it simmered in dashi or in miso soup. When simmered in dashi, it is warming and comforting and makes for a lovely, simple dinner along with some steamed rice. Kabocha in miso soup makes it even more sublime. Kabocha is usually added to miso soup in the fall. The creamy, sweetness of the kabocha offsets the salty miso perfectly. According to Setsuko Yoshizuka, about.com's Japanese cuisine expert, "Kabocha tend to keep its shape even if it's simmered." She encourages everyone to make some kabocha dishes for a Japanese twist on the usual Halloween dinner.

Simmered Sweet Kabocha

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. kabocha
• 4 cups prepared dashi soup stock (see dashi instructions)
  
• 3 tbsps sugar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
  

Preparation:

   1. Cut kabocha into small chunks about 1 and 1/2 inch cube.
   2. Peel skin in places. (leave skin in places)
   3. Put dashi soup stock, sugar, soy sauce, and kabocha chunks in a pan.
   4. Place the pan in high heat and bring it to boil.
   5. Turn down the heat to low.
   6. Simmer kabocha until the liquid is almost gone.

Miso Soup with Kabocha

There are as many ways to make miso soup as there are people who make it. I like a little mirin in mine. Experiment to find a recipe that appeals to you.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups dashi soup stock
• 1/2 a small kabocha, de-seeded and sliced thinly into 1 in. pieces
  
• 1/2 tofu
• 3 tbsp miso paste
• 1/4 cup chopped green onion

Preparation:

Put dashi soup stock in a pan and bring to a boil. Add kabocha and simmer until tender. Cut tofu into small cubes and add them to the soup. Scoop out some soup stock from the pan and dissolve miso paste in it. Return the soup in the pan. Stop the heat and add chopped green onion. Remember not to boil the soup after you put miso in.

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