Pumpkins Pumpkins and more Pumpkins

 So it's that time of year again and months ago I decided that I wanted to make the most of the Pumpkins. It ended up being the longest messiest day of my life (slight exaggeration perhaps).

Months ago though I didn't know I was going to have a gimpy leg after some key hole surgery. Me being me I couldn't sit still as the idea was in my head and that was that, I would lose sleep over it if I didn't do it....and this is what I did!

Firstly I made some Pumpkin pie. Last years pumpkin pie did me proud it was perfect but this year was a different story. I kind of think it was the recipe I was using but I also forgot a vital ingredient until the last second. Milk. My filling was poured lovingly into the pie crust, which was a pastry attempt where everything went right and I was feeling quite smug when I put it in the oven. About 5 minutes later I had that sinking feeling that I had forgotten something and I had!! I waddled like a mad man to my oven and pulled it out spilling filling all over the dish which would later result in caramelized/burnt crust. I poured in some milk and gently mixed it in. It then was apparent that the pie dish I was using was not big enough for the filling and it started to over flow so when I put it back in the oven (with less milk then the recipe asked for) it over flowed and spilled in the oven. It then managed to take nearly an hour to set in the oven and when I pulled it out the crust was a dark brown and the filling had ballooned to about 3 times its height. Altogether a failure and not picture worthy. Luckily it tasted ok albeit slightly soggy.

I then decided to make cream of pumpkin soup. This did work out and is really easy:

2 tbsp butter
1 medium onion; roughly diced
4 cups pureed pumpkin
2.8 liter of chicken stock
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
3 cups milk/whipping cream

1) melt butter and add the onion. Stir occasionally until onion softens.
2) Add pumpkin and salt and continue to cook for 15 minutes
3) add the stock, corriander,curry and pepper
4)cover and increase heat to bring to boil
5) reduce the her to low and simmer for 15 minutes
6) remove from heat and place in a food proeessor and puree until smooth.

The soup is very light. My advice would be to maybe add more pumpkin to thicken it up a little.

 THEN!!!! after carving the pumpkins so that the trick or treaters would know to knock on our door I started on our Cheesy Pumpkin Slice for dinner!

This was yummy!! Definitely make this again!

1kg Pumpkin cut into 3 cm pieces
6 cloves of garlic
 large onion, cut into wedges
2 tbsp olive oil
75g wallnut pieces
pinch of pepper
sprinkle of nutmeg
few sprigs of fresh sage
1/2 small bunch of flat leaf parsley
100g Creme Fraiche
2x150g cheese
shortcrust pastry

1) Heat the oven to mark 6/200C and roast the Pumpkin, garlic onion and olive oil for 40 minutes
2) stir in the rest of the ingredients and season well. cool for 15 mins.
3) lay one sheet of pastry on a baking tray and top with the filling leaving a border around the edge and lay the second sheet of pastry on top. seal the edges with a form and bake for 40 mins.


This is a lovely recipe and tastes so Autumnal! I highly recommend it.

To top off my Pumpkin fest I roasted some Pumpkin seeds in butter and salt for a healthy snack...well, it's healthier then chocolate anyway!

Love ya