I have plans for non-food related posts to come soon, really my life and blog is not alllllll about cooking and eating, but here is one more food post.
Fall is my favorite season, and one thing I love about it is the different fruits that are in season. We get many pumpkin style gourds throughout the year, but the biggest and best are found now. This pale green one is very common and it is just so beautiful.
Processing a pumpkin is such a satisfying job because it yields so much goodness and the peel is the only part we don't eat. We start by splitting it into two pieces.
Then my little pirates hunt for gold (the seeds) in this treasure chest.
I peel the chunks and cook them on the stove till they are tender.
And roast the seeds with olive oil and salt for a snack.
This day our electricity was out so I couldn't use my blender to make pumpkin puree. My good ol'fashioned food mill came in handy and the boys loved taking turns too.
Homemade pumpkin puree tends to be a bit watery, fine for soups and smoothies, but I like to strain what I'll use for baking. I hang it in a cheesecloth for a while, then I package it in two cup servings to freeze because that's a common amount for a recipe.
Mmmmmm. I forgot to take any pictures of the best part of all this pumpkin: pumpkin chocolate chip bars, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin soup, pumpkin ricotta gnocchi.
