'Tis the season for pumpkin carving, but don't throw out the scraps! AOL Food's toasted pumpkin seed recipe and these tips make it easy to turn a pile of pumpkin seeds (or pepitas) into a tasty and healthy snack.
Posts with tag pumpkins
Adorable Alert: Zoos get into Halloween pumpkins too!
If you want a slice of adorable with your Halloween, go no further than ZooBorns.com. We're not the only living creatures out there that go nuts with pumpkins! From the uber cute frog above, to apes, tentacley things, and big cats, there's a whole slew of pumpkin-centric pictures to gush over. It's got me scheming a plan to buy and empty out a ginormous pumpkin and lure the bengal inside with a trail of catnip. But methinks that would lead to unhappiness similar to this baby with a lot of sharp, talon-led panic.
At the very least, if the pumpkin is big enough, you can scoop out some flesh for cooking and still have fun with the animals.
The Philly Inquirer in 60 seconds: Pumpkins and a cookbook round-up
Pumpkins are everywhere right now and they are some good eating. Don't dismiss your big jack 'o lantern gourds, they can be used as serving vessels for soup. - Breaking down the available varieties of pumpkin. The rule of thumb is that the more orange the flesh is, the better it is for you.
- This week in the Market Basket, you've got the Norpro apple peeler-corer-slicer, Bailey's with a hint of coffee and ghostly cookie cutters.
- Rick Nichols ponders Philly's happy abundance of cozy bistros.
- A helpful round-up of cookbooks perfect for the experimental amateur cook.
- This week the Rush Hour Gourmet has us cooking Wine-Poached Sole.
- Philly residents looking for a classic Tex-Mex burrito should search no further than El Fuego.
- A sushi restaurant has landed on East Passyunk Ave.
A Harvest of Pumpkins and Squash, Cookbook of the 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?).
Continue reading A Harvest of Pumpkins and Squash, Cookbook of the Day
Today is Pumpkin Day!
Well, with all of the pumpkin-related Halloween stuff we did yesterday, this seems like it's a day too late, but there's still plenty of pumpkin food to talk about.
It's Pumpkin Day, so maybe this is the day you can go to your supermarket or your favorite pumpkin-selling farmstand to get some pumpkins for your home and/or yard. But what about recipes? PumpkinNook.com has a ton of recipes, including many pumpkin pie, cookie, and cake recipes. Here's a recipe for Pumpkin Custard from Bon Appetit, while PastryWiz has one for Pumpkin Nut Bread.
If you're afraid of carving pumpkins, use Mr. Potato Head
I love pumpkins, but I always find it a waste to carve them into Jack o' Lanterns. The big pumpkins aren't that good to eat anyway, but even if you get the cute small sugar pie pumpkins, carve them up, and let them sit out in the open air on your front porch for two weeks, you have to throw them away when you're all done. The better thing to do is to decorate pumpkins in a way that you can eat them later. Painting faces on them is fine, but messy and requires time and creativity. Now I'm not saying you're not creative, but there is that time issue.
Thankfully, you can just pick up some Halloween "costumes" for your pumpkins, a la Mr. Potato Head. All of the costume pieces are pushed into the pumpkin, the same way you push them into Mr. Potato Head. These are made specifially for pumpkins, since they're bigger than the toy, but if you're dressing up smaller pumpkins, nothing's stopping you from nabbing your kids' toys out of the playroom and using them!
The Pirate, R2D2, and other "costumes" are available on Amazon.
South Africa whips up world's largest pumpkin pie
I've never given much thought as to whether South Africans celebrate Thanksgiving. However, when I read that a team of bakers created what they're calling the the world's largest pumpkin pie last weekend, I'm beginning to think folks in Pretoria might just have their own version Thanksgiving.The 1.15 ton treat took two days to make and bake and measured some 3 feet deep. It's worth noting that the pie's other dimensions were 28 feet long and 7 feet wide. While I'm all for the South Africans trying to break a record set by a group of U.S. farmers two years ago (pictured), someone needs to tell the South Africans that pies are round. If the dimensions I read are not a typo, the mammoth pumpkin pastry qualifies as a loaf with a crust, but not a pie. A ton of the orange gourd was used to make the "pie." As of press time, there's been no reports of how many pounds of Cool Whip were used to top the purported pie.
Food shaped like Mickey Mouse
This is a little too Invasion of the Body Snatchers for my liking, but it's certainly interesting: vegetables shaped like Mickey Mouse.
It's part of what you'll find at the greenhouse exhibit The Land at EPCOT. There are Mickey pumpkins and Mickey cucumbers, all created through special ear-shaped molds that hang throughout the greenhouses. As you know, EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, and this is part of the interesting experiments going on there. They're not really doing all of the things promised years ago (a real community, no cars, creating a modern world, etc), but some of the agriculture experiments continue.
[via Boing Boing]
Pumpkin Pie: Seattle Times Food & Wine section in 60 seconds
There are a few articles in the Seattle Times' Food & Wine section this week -- restaurant Carmelita seems to be related to every other restaurant, experts offer tips on how to live a Champagne dining lifestyle on a beer budget, the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia holds a Wine Festival -- but the real highlight of this week is pumpkins.
They're not talking about those hulking orange orbs that we use to carve Jack O'Lanterns. They are gushing over the much smaller Sugar Pumpkins, which are the star in a whole host of pumpkin recipes, from pie to soup: Flaky Pie Dough, Maple Pecan Pumpkin Pie, Maple Pecan Topping, Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Muffins, and Curried Pumpkin-Peanut Soup. And to kick it all off? A cocktail of course -- the Pumpkin French 75.
Duck, Duck, Goose: San Francisco Chronicle Food & Dining section in 60 seconds
In just a few short weeks, we'll be giving our undivided attention to turkey, but until then, we might give another bird a try: duck. The idea of cooking duck at home might instill fear, but the San Francisco Chronicle went to Bay Area experts to find out the best, easiest way to prepare the bird. The accompanying recipes are: Nancy Oakes' Slow-Roasted Duck, Cindy Pawlcyn's Roast Duck, Bay Wolf's All-Day Duck, Bay Wolf's Seared Duck Breasts with Spice Rub, Manka's 'Shut Up' Duck Legs, and Brussels Sprouts & Mushrooms with Duck Confit.
If you don't have your Jack o' Lantern up yet for Halloween next week, go ahead and grab a pumpkin, do your thing, but save the seeds! Pumpkin seeds are awesome in everything from a deeply rich Pipian Mole to dessert, Candied Pepitas!
Cinderella, your pumpkin truffle has arrived
Oh man. I knew that Godiva made "seasonal" chocolates, but I had no idea that they had something like this! The Godiva Pumpkin Patch Truffles are a rich and creamy pumpkin spiced ganache, covered with milk chocolate, then dusted with cinnamon, the quintessential spice of autumn. Wrapped in shiny orange foil, then embellished with a pumpkin leaf, these are absolutely adorable. Did someone warn me about my carriage turning back into a pumpkin? I sure don't mind if it's one of these!
The Godiva Pumpkin Patch truffles are available online at Godiva, $12.50 for a package of five.
[via: ThisNext]
The Easiest Ever Thanksgiving: Every Day With Rachael Ray in 60 seconds
I love holiday issues of cooking magazines (I collect them), and Rachael Ray's is no exception. This is the Thanksgiving issue, and she covers everything from Herb-Roasted Turkey with Dried Plums and Stuffing to the best Pecan Pie. - Speaking of turkey: have you tried making it on the grill?
- Holidays, of course, are made for booze! Check out these recipes for the Pumpkintini and Cranberry Punch.
- Check out what House star Lisa Edelstein eats all day.
- More recipes: Double Chocolate Scones with Cinnamon Butter, Crunchy Breadsticks, Shepherd's Pie, and Oatmeal-Raisin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting.
- In the print edition (should be on the site too, bu the link is wrong): You might be making candy this season (and you're certainly making some for our Candy Day tomorrow, right?), so check out which candy thermometers work best.
Picking the perfect pumpkin
I always approach unknown veggies with a bit of trepidation. There are boxes of them on on the produce stand, and everyone looks different -- so what should I be after? Pumpkin is on the grocery shelves rarely enough to qualify (at least to me) as one of these unknowns, so I thought I'd share these tips for picking out your perfect pumpkin, for those braving the fierce waters of pumpkin outside the can. For a future jack-o-lantern, of course, you're looking for a pretty pumpkin -- with a deep orange color and firm flesh. (You can still have roasted pumpkin seeds from your jack-o-lantern!) But if you do want to cook your pumpkin, you might be a bit pickier. Throughout your local produce department, you're likely to find some pumpkins specifically labeled as pie pumpkins, which are going to be the best sort for eating. You'll want to take a look at the stem -- a strong, green stem will show a pumpkin in good health. And other than that, look for the same signs of quality you would in any other produce: no blemishes or soft spots, and it should feel heavy for its size.
Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!
..but not a bite to eat. With the beginning of October, the grocery stores in my area seem to be overflowing with pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. However, I'm a bit confused by the numerous pumpkins that are not recommended for eating. The small pumpkins in a large display by the store entrance are marked "for display only, do not eat!" and the pumpkins in the produce section are covered with stickers that read "great for painting!" Am I the only one who heads to the produce department looking for things to eat? So, stubborn as I am, I've become set on turning these decorative objects into food -- and hopefully something more interesting than the pie that everyone seems to be so set on this time of year.I {heart} this useless mini pumpkin pan
If you haven't already seen your local market transform into a haunted castle and pumpkins falling all over themselves in giant displays, well, you must not be living in the US. Halloween is upon us, and technically, it's still September.Nonetheless, I fell in love with these adorable pumpkin-shaped cakes, which are turned out of a mini pumpkin pan from Williams-Sonoma, and had a burning desire to bake pumpkin bread this instant. Whatever cake or bread batter you put in there comes out looking like the top (or bottom) half of a pumpkin. You can decorate and serve just the halves, or put two together to make a whole pumpkin.
However, I did realize, of course, that if you were to buy this pan just to make mini pumpkins, that would be a waste of $32. Why not get the mini brownie bundt pan instead and use it every season? They are the exact same product.
Oh, those tricky product marketers at Williams-Sonoma! They almost had us!
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