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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Halloween = pumpkin

Roast pumpkin seeds - season first then roast ~8 min
I rode my bike home last night around 7pm, watching kids and parents in fancy dress pounding the pavements - a tiny girl in a Rubix Cube just outside the Booksmith...  I stopped to buy some groceries, mainly I was thinking about pumpkin and squash as I wanted to carve / cook them to mark the day.  They were out of pumpkins, but I bought a butternut squash and an acorn squash (acorns are my favourite so far I think).  Decided not to carve, just to cook.
My plan for the evening was to cook pumpkin and listen to ghost stories on the radio (S was out).  I'd spotted some MR James on the BBC...


Pumpkin and chickpeas
First for something savoury - I'd seen this recipe a few days ago, and liked its autumnal simplicity / imagined the ingredients working very well together.

1 butternut or other squash (used 3/4 of a large butternut squash)
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled but bashed to break the skin
1-2 small red chillies, deseeded, membrane removed, finely chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme (didn't have, so used ~ 1tbsp dried thyme)
4 bay leaves
Flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
150g dried chickpeas, soaked and cooked
Juice of 1 lemon
1 large bunch parsley, stalks removed, leaves chopped
1 large bunch coriander, stalks removed, leaves chopped
1 small bunch mint, stalks removed, leaves chopped (didn't have, and didn't 100% fancy anyway, so left out)
20g pumpkin seeds, toasted

Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6.  Peel the squash (if you like), remove the seeds and cut into 4cm chunks.  Put these in a roasting tin with the garlic, chilli, thyme, bay leaves, some salt and pepper.  Add three tablespoons of oil and mix with your hands until well coated.  Roast for 35-45 minutes, until the squash is softened and beginning to char around the edges.  Add the chickpeas, toss and cook for five minutes to warm through.  Add the lemon juice and toss with the herbs, pumpkin seeds and a bit of sea salt. Serve warm, with a little oil trickled over the top if you like.


Pumpkin, chocolate and spices
Pumpkin bread with TJ's pumpkin butter
Had been thinking about a pumpkin loaf, liked the sound of the spices in this one on ppk.

I baked the remaining 1/4 of the butternut squash (left from the recipe above), which was the tail end - I put it cut side down on a baking tray and put it in the oven at 400F (while the other squash was also cooking).  When it was done (collapsed on poking; ~30min) I removed it, left it to cool a few min, drained off any escaped liquid, then scraped the insides out of the skin and mashed them thoroughly with a fork.  This generated about 1/2 a cup of pumpkin puree, so I halved the quantities in the recipe below.

1/4 cup applesauce
2 tablespoons coconut oil (or canola oil)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons boiling water, divided
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350F and lightly grease an 8 inch loaf pan.

Put applesauce, oil and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl, sift together flour, spices, baking soda and salt.

Measure out 1/3 cup boiling water and pour into the bowl with the chocolate mixture, mixing quickly to make a smooth chocolate sauce.  Add pumpkin, sugar and vanilla and mix well.

Put about half of the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture and gently stir just to incorporate, then measure out 1 tablespoon of boiling water and stir again.  Now add the rest of the flour mixture and another tablespoon of boiling water and stir just until smooth (take care not to overmix).  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top.

Bake for 55 minutes to an hour.  Test with a skewer.  Let cool for 10 minutes, then take out loaf and allow to cool.  Eat slightly warm or cool.


The pumpkin and chickpeas was wonderful - a different, more earthy (less sweet) take on the squash and sweetcorn I also like.  The herbs, chickpeas, squash, lemon, pumpkin seeds and seasoning are just meant to be together...  The loaf is pretty good too - I think I undercooked it slightly (am starting to realise there is a huge difference in temperature between parts of the oven), and the chocolate overpowered the spices and pumpkin a bit, but it is still very munchable.  I am also pounding my way through a small jar of TJ's pumpkin butter -mmmmm.  I considered making pumpkin butter but you can't really preserve pumpkin so I decided it wasn't worth bothering.  Pumpkin fest!
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