Pumpkins and Squash

One of the last things we harvest every year is the pumpkins and winter squash. They spend the summer out in the Three Sisters Garden (more on that at another time) with the dry beans and corn.

Much of that time, they’re hidden. But in late September or early October, with the corn harvested and the first frost shriveling their leaves, they shine like big gold nuggets.

We harvested the pumpkins and winter squash right before we went elk hunting.

It’s like hunting for Easter eggs – we’re always surprised with the bounty we find, and we look forward to it every year. We got about 50 pumpkins and nearly that many squash.

We grew four kinds of squash this year: Buttercup, Butternut:

Acorn:

and Kabocha:

The butternut were non-starters – we only got one little butternut – but they’ve done better in the past. Buttercup do well and are lovely to roast in the oven. The acorn did ok as far as number, but did not get really big. And the kabocha are a fabulous shade of orange. They have a texture reminiscent of buttercup squash – a little waxy, and wonderful roasted.

We grew three kinds of pumpkin: Jack-o’lantern, New England pie, and Baby Bear. All did great! I’ve grown the Rouge Vif D’Etampes in the past – they are beautiful, but I don’t like the texture as well. The Kobacha squash are just as pretty and have a better texture.

I pick varieties that will mature early for both squash and pumpkin. I plant them directly into the garden. I’ve found that to start them early, then transplant, just sets them back too far. They do just fine started in the garden. We plant them with the corn and dried beans – they provide the shade and weed suppression in that garden.

The pumpkin garden is away from everything else – pumpkin vines like to travel! They can grow up to 15 ft. long so they need lots of room.

As the fall progresses, we have squash by itself, or pumpkin alone, but our favorite way is to cook a couple squash and a couple pumpkins and puree them all together.

Cut them in half. You can either scoop out the seeds now if you want roasted pumpkin seeds later, or you can just leave them in.

Lay them cut side down on a roasting pan. Fill the pan with about an inch of water. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size or type of squash or pumpkin. When they come out of the oven, let them cool a bit.

Scoop out the seeds.

I usually put everything in a food processor first and puree.

Some are easier to scoop out than others.

When I'm done pureeing (is that a word?) in the food processor, I pour everything into a large pot. I cook it over low heat till it gets to the consistency I want. Be careful at this stage! It plops as it cooks and can be extremely hot. So I keep a lid part way on the pan and stir carefully. Towards the end, I get out that wonderful little immersion blender and blend for a few minutes.

I package the mixture in quart freezer bags but only put in 2 cups in each bag. Most recipes call for a can or 2 cups of pumpkin. When you freeze them, sort of mash them flat and they will stack better in your freezer.

This makes a smooth, rich mixture that can be used in many recipes. The texture is different from a can of pumpkin - it's not as thick, so you might need to adjust cooking times or the liquid you use.

Yesterday, I cooked down about 1/5 of our harvest and got about 20 cups of pumpkin/squash puree. That’s a lot of pumpkin pies. Or bread. Or cookies. Or soup. Or casserole. Or…

You might think pumpkins are great for Halloween or for pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving. However, the main reason to grow pumpkins is this little recipe right here. Now, this might be hot chocolate, but it’s healthy. It’s got squash, right? Fiber? And milk. And I usually double this because you can’t get too much of a good thing. That way, I’ve got half a pitcher left for the next day.

MAYAN HOT CHOCOLATE

1 small squash or pumpkin or 2/3 c. pureed squash or pumpkin or a mixture

2 ½ c. milk (whole, 2%, 1% or fat free), divided

6 oz. or ¾ c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ tsp. cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

Pinch of cardamom

Or go hot and add pinch of cayenne 

If you are doing this from scratch: oven 375°. Cut squash/pumpkin in half. You can take out the seeds now if you want to roast them. Or place halves, cut sides down in a roasting pan. Fill with water up to 1 inch. Bake 30 minutes or till tender. Scoop out and discard seeds. Scoop out squash pulp and puree in food processor. Measure out 2/3 cup (if you have leftovers, put them in your pancake batter next time you make pancakes – add some pumpkin pie spice too. Or make pumpkin shake. Or put in it your morning smoothie. Or just make more hot chocolate!)

Puree squash in blender with ½ c. milk. Heat the chocolate chips in the microwave till melted, or in a pan on the stove with the rest of the milk, stirring constantly.

Pour milk, melted chocolate and any spice combination you like into the blender with the squash. Blend till frothy.

Stir. Taste. Adjust the seasoning. I use about ¼ tsp. cayenne, but I like things on the hot/spicy side. Pour it in a mug. Your favorite mug.

You may need to heat it just a bit more in the microwave (Warning: for some reason, this hot chocolate likes to cook over in the microwave when you reheat it. To avoid losing half of the cup of hot chocolate and having a chocolate-filled microwave, watch it carefully. When it starts to boil up, stop the microwave – it doesn’t take long).  Add a homemade marshmallow (more on that later). Get your favorite book. Sit in your favorite chair. Breathe deeply and enjoy.

We also add pumpkin/squash puree to our morning smoothies – lots of fiber and good things for you. Or you can make this shake which is one of the most wonderful fall drinks ever:

(The comments are by the author of that recipe)

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake
Recipe by Our Best Bites
1/3 c. pumpkin, canned or homemade
1/4 - 1/2 C milk
¼ tsp. vanilla
½  tsp.cinnamon
1/16 tsp. cloves (just use a 1/8 tsp. measure and fill it half way, or do a pinch)
1/16 tsp. nutmeg
2 tbs. brown sugar
2 c. vanilla ice cream
a few graham crackers

Pop it all in a blender. Start with 1/4 C milk and then slowly add more if needed to make the blender process it all. I used somewhere between 1/4-1/2 C.

A note about blenders: Here's the problem with making thick, diner style milkshakes at home: A lot of times you have to add so much milk to the thing to get the blender to process that it turns into a milk-slushie instead. Or you have to blend and plunge, blend and plunge, etc. You know the drill, right? So if you have any trouble with your blender, I would recommend blending everything but the ice cream first and then mashing it into the ice cream by hand (well, with a hand. Holding a fork or spoon :) If your scooped ice cream sits out at room temp while you measure the other things and get them all ready, then by the time you mash it all together it should be a good consistency.

Sprinkle with crushed graham cracker crumbs before serving.

FYI: I used a 2-lb. pumpkin and it yielded 1 3/4 C puree. And if you are trying to gauge- One 15 oz. can equals 1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree and one 29 oz. can (the biggie) equals 3 1/2 cups pumpkin puree. So my 2lb pumpkin was almost exactly equal to one can.

Now when you cook these pumpkins, you have pumpkin seeds. You can either pitch them or make:

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds (also from Our Best Bites)
½ c. Pumpkin seeds, clean and dry
½ tbs. butter
¼ tsp. olive oil
¼ tsp. celery salt
¼  tsp. onion
1/8 tsp. garlic
1/8 tsp. paprika
pinch cayenne
Kosher salt
By the time I got my pumpkin mess cleaned up and the seeds cleaned and ready to cook, my pumpkin was almost done cooking. So I took it out and turned the oven up to cook the seeds. However, if you wanted to, you could cook your seeds at 350° right along with your pumpkin and it would just take a little longer.
Let's get on with it...

Rinse seeds until clean. Boil in salt water 10 minutes (some people don't do this step, but I think it helps when you are eating them). Preheat oven to 400°. Melt butter and add olive oil to it. Place seeds in a small bowl and toss with butter and seasonings (except kosher salt).

Lay in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. (You can, of course, use any seasoning mix you want--be creative!)

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Give one a try and sprinkle on kosher salt if needed.

Or if you make pancakes or waffles,

add some pumpkin for the liquid, and spread with:

PUMPKIN BUTTER

½ c. softened butter

½ c. pureed pumpkin

¼ c. powdered sugar

½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Beat together. Chill at least 3 hours. Let soften 20 minutes before serving. Makes about 1 cup.

 

We'll do the things you can bake in the next blog. But this will get you started now that all this fall bounty is here.