Fresh pumpkins are available
in the markets now and are an excellent
cooking ingredient. I have compiled some basic
cooking information to
encourage you to cook something delicious:
Don’t buy a “Field” pumpkin
for cooking. Field pumpkins are the ones we
make jack-o-lanterns out of, and they will be too
stringy for baking.
Do buy a Sugar pumpkin for
cooking. A medium sized sugar pumpkin
(4 pounds) will yield about 1 ½ cups of mashed
pumpkin.
I prefer to bake the sugar
pumpkin, instead of boiling, the pumpkin will
release too much liquid, when you are cooking with
it later if you boil it.
To bake the pumpkin; cut it in
half and discard the pulp and stem section,
save the seeds if you would like to roast them
later.
Place the two halves face down
in a shallow baking dish and cover with foil.
Bake in a preheated oven at 375°F for about 1 ½
hours for a medium size
pumpkin (or until tender when pierced with a fork).
Once the pumpkin has cooled, scoop out the flesh,
leaving the tough outer
portion and puree or mash it. If you are making a
custard or soup, press the
pumpkin puree through a sieve. I have included my
favorite recipe for pumpkin
bread for you to try. Enjoy and I hope to see you
in class soon!
Pumpkin
Bread
Make 3 big loaves to eat or
six smaller ones for great gifts!
PUMPKIN BREAD
Fall also means we bring back some of our favorite
classes
and create some fresh new ones. The holidays are
not that
far away and we will have some fun and helpful
ideas to
make things easier for you. The final class from
our
new series The Basics of Healthy Cooking is
well
worth attending if you are at all worried about the
salt/sodium content of your food. (Nov 1)
Join us for Alfresco Italian Dinner (Fresh pasta
with a delicious
tomato and basil sauce, fresh baked Italian bread
and more, Oct 30 ).
A perfect date night for you and your mate.
In November, we will focus more on
the holidays and our
"Make and Take" Tamales Workshop Nov 17, is just in time for
Thanksgiving! |