September 23, 2020

Embrace the Gourd!

Happy Autumnal Equinox! The weather is getting chilly, leaves are falling, and we’re all a little worried about seasonal depression. Summer is my favourite season, I can’t lie about it, but fall contains some of my most favourite things! I don’t need to be proud I love pumpkin spice! I will not be shamed it is so delicious and I will die on this hill. Listen, pumpkin is not a one-trick pony and it belongs in so much more than just coffee and its about time it gets the respect it deserves. So if you’re a pumpkin spice hater try and put aside your animosity and just embrace the gourd.

People give you some judgemental looks when you’re the only person rolling up to the cash lanes with a giant pumpkin… in September but don’t worry it’ll be worth it. After purchasing my medium-sized average pumpkin I learnt that you are supposed to buy sugar pumpkins for cooking with. After a mild pumpkin induced panic and some frantic googling turns out the main complaint about the normal pumpkins we all use to make Jack-O-Lanterns is that they are fibrous and stringy. This was a really easy issue to fix, I just blended all my pumpkin puree to make it nice and smooth before using it.

PREPARE THE PUMPKIN~

The first step to embrace the gourd is to prepare said gourd. Caution is essential as cutting pumpkin can be difficult and it’s easy to cut yourself in the process. Use a sharp knife if you can because pumpkin skin is tough. Like you would for making a Jack-O-Lantern cut out a hole around the stem that’s large enough for you to scoop all the seeds out.

I know you’re expecting me to tell you to save the seeds to roast them but honestly DON’T DO IT! You’re never going to eat them, it’s so much work and hassle and you don’t need to put yourself through that. SPARE YOURSELF and just let those seeds go into the compost. Once your seeds are safely in the compost cut the pumpkin in half to make it easier to disassemble. Then cut the pumpkin into strips, cover with some oil, and roast at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft. If you will only be using your pumpkin for savoury recipes you can also sprinkle with salt, pepper, and spices before you roast. I knew I would be making sweet and savoury so I left it plain for roasting.

PUMPKIN SOUP~

Now, fall is pumpkin and spooky season BUT it’s also SOUP SEASON! Naturally, the first recipe had to be for pumpkin soup. After looking up some different recipes they seem to all be quite similar so feel free to customize and change the recipe for your own tastes.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

5 Cups Pumpkin Puree
1 White Onion
4 cloves of Garlic
3 Cups Chicken Stock
Salt & Pepper to taste

Thinly slice up the entire onion and cook on medium-low heat until the onion is soft then chop and add the garlic and cook for another couple minutes. Try not to add any colour to the onion while you cook it, this won’t do anything really for the flavour but it changes the colour. So if you don’t care about that cook them however you’d like.

Add the cooked onion/garlic mixture, the pumpkin puree, and the chicken stock into a blender and combine until smooth.

Pour contents back into a pot, add in your chosen spices, and heat it up!

Best served with some fresh cracked pepper and a buttered piece of toast! Enjoy! Now that we’ve had a nice little pumpkin appetizer lets get into a main! Gnocchi is a Taylor family tradition and this adaptation was super easy and super tasty.

PUMPKIN GNOCCHI~

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

1 Cup Pumpkin Puree
1 Cup Flour
1 Egg
1 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese

(More flour for kneading your dough)

Combine all the ingredients together, if the dough is still too sticky or wet just add more flour. Once the dough is the proper consistency roll out the dough. There are different school of thought on how to form gnocchi. I roll out the dough, use a fork to cut into small pieces, then roll the fork across the dough to work little noodle shapes.

Every great pasta needs a great sauce. I went with a classic browned butter and sage sauce to keep things autumnal. I used the recipe from Aberdeens Kitchen.

Now, I’m pretty sure when I made my sauce I didn’t let my butter brown as much as it should have but during this process, I remembered a like a hearty sauce so I added a 1/4 cup of four and mixed well to thicken the sauce. Absolute perfection! Boil the gnocchi until it floats to the top of the water, strain, then add your sauce of choice!

PUMPKIN LOAF~

Ok, there are quite enough savoury dishes, now it’s time for something sweet! Finding a pumpkin loaf recipe is much more overwhelming than I ever thought it could be. Believe me when I say there is no shortage of “World’s Best Pumpkin Loaf” recipe. After getting very overwhelmed I chose the recipe that wasn’t so arrogant as to say “Worlds Best”. Turns out this was possibly the best instinct I’ve ever had because this recipe by Ai Made It For You! IT IS SO SO SO DELICIOUS! I will absolutely be trying more of her recipes because this one was dreamy! Followed this recipe exactly except for the pepitas on top, I didn’t have any so I substituted walnuts in.

Pumpkin Bread – Super moist and Dairy-free!

If given the option between having a regular-sized food and a miniature food I will always always always want the small cute option. So, of course, that’s what I did! Stands to reason that the smaller loaves need less time to bake. I kept mine in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Hope you enjoy one if not all of these delicious recipes! I can say confidently I embraced the gourd this week and I am still not sick of pumpkin…yet.

Happy Autumn! Hope you also Embrace the Gourd!

Hannah