Fiona Staunton, of Fiona’s Food For Life, HATES food waste… But she loves a challenge! So here are her recipes to use up ALL the contents of your pumpkin this Halloween after you carve your creation!
And yes… we mean ALL of it… including the flesh, seeds, and stringy guts!
This is one of the Workplace Cookery Demos that Fiona is presenting virtually this October. While the smaller pumpkins tend to be sweeter and better for making pumpkin pie, soup etc the larger Jack-o- lantern style pumpkins can be eaten also!
Getting Started
Have three containers ready: one for the flesh, one with water which will be for the seeds and one for the stringy guts! As you pull out the guts and seeds, try to separate them. But if seeds are stuck to the stringy flesh then add it to the bowl with water as this will help separate them.
Fiona finds moving a large metal spoon inside the pumpkin to scrape off the flesh works best. It should be easy to lift out the seeds from the top of the bowl with water and place on a baking tray. And then, you can gently squeeze out the stringy guts and add them to the bowl ready to make the pumpkin bread.
Pumpkin Bread With Pecans
This takes 10 mins to prepare and 1 hour to cook. It makes two loaves. This is more of a cake really than a bread, think banana bread! It is delicious warm, with butter and a cup of tea! It freezes well too, best to slice first.
Heat the oven to 180°C, line two loaf tins (approx. 22 x 12cm)with parchment paper.
Put the butter in one of the tins in the oven to melt.
Using a pair of scissors, gut through the pumpkin guts so that they are in small pieces to melt into the loaf.
Mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda and salt in a large bowl.
Add the eggs, butter and pumpkin, stir until a smooth batter.
If it appears a little dry you can add 50- 100mls water to moisten it, this really depends on the moisture content of your pumpkin.
If using nuts, stir through now.
Pour the mixture into the tins and bake for 1 hour. Check to see if it is cooked by inserting a skewer, if it comes out clean then the bread is cooked, if not, pop it back in for 5 mins and repeat.
Cool for 10 mins in the tin then allow to cool on a wire tray.
Pumpkin Soup
This is a tasty and highly nutritious soup to use up the flesh part of the pumpkin.
Ingredients:
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Pumpkin flesh from med pumpkin (approx 2kg)
600ml Vegetable stock
400ml tin coconut milk (optional)
Pepper and salt
Method
Cut and scrape out the pumpkin flesh once you have carved the pumpkin, chop into pieces approx. 3cm square, if possible!
Saute off the onion and garlic, in a little oil or use my saute in water method.
Add in the stock, coconut milk and pumpkin pieces, season with pepper and salt and simmer for 10-15 mins until pumpkin is cooked.
Blend soup with a hand held blender, taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve in bowls, topped with some cream and pumpkin seeds.
Variations:
You can add in other veg like celery, carrot or potato to this soup. For a lightly spiced soup add 1/2 tsp of ground cumin, coriander and smoked paprika. Adding 2 tbsp grated ginger with the garlic also tastes great.
Remove the seeds from the water and shake off any excess water in a sieve or strainer.
Place on a dry metal tray and place in the oven for 5 mins, stir and return for another 3-5 mins, the seeds are just starting to colour but if we toast them too much the natural oils in the seeds will begin to break down.
Once they are dried out and slightly crunchy they are ready, add your flavouring and enjoy – store in a jar for a few days.
Variations: You can add 1 tsp of your favourite spice, e.g. Cumin seeds or perhaps smoked paprika or cayenne pepper. I tend to add whole seeds at the beginning and powdered spice at the end.
Fiona runs Cookery Demonstrations in the workplace or in her kitchen in Dublin 18. During Covid restrictions she runs Virtual Cookery Demos and Cook-alongs using whole foods to inspire people to cook from scratch, create delicious, wholesome meals to enjoy with family or guests. Fiona offers lots of recipes and handy cooking tips on her website and social media, so go on, give her a follow!
