Pumpkin Recipes
October 20, 2009 by Waverly Fitzgerald
Filed under FOOD & DRINK
I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin pecan bread and my daughter’s creamy pumpkin black bean chili. What’s your favorite pumpkin recipe?
Creamy Pumpkin Black Bean Chili
By Shaw Fitzgerald
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 medium white (or yellow) onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 3 teaspoons Thai Kitchen red curry paste
1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Dash clove powder
1 to 2 15 oz cans of black beans
1 29 oz can of pumpkin or one medium-sized sugar pumpkin, roasted
1 large semi-tart apple (such as Gala), diced
2 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1/3 to ½ cup heavy cream
Secret ingredient: tablespoon of European (unsweetened) cocoa powder
If not available, add one teaspoon instant coffee or a shot of espresso
Grated cheddar cheese for topping
This recipe is better if you roast the pumpkin yourself, plus then you have some pumpkin seeds to roast for garnish. First halve and clean a medium-sized sugar pumpkin, then slice it like a cantaloupe. Coat the slices with oil and lay them on an oiled baking sheet.
I add enough water so the pumpkins will steam and cover the whole baking sheet tightly with tinfoil. Put this in an oven at medium heat for about 30 to 45 minutes. After the slices have cooled, you will be able to easily peel off the shell.
Saute diced onion in butter until translucent. Add the curry paste and garlic and let bloom. Add the chicken broth, black beans and apples. Let simmer and reduce. Add cinnamon and clove. Add the roasted pumpkin, pressing the pieces against the sides of the pan to turn them into mush. Simmer another 10 to 20 minutes until thickened. Add the cream and stir in. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with grated cheddar cheese on top (and/or roasted pumpkin seeds).
Easily made vegetarian or even vegan by substituting vegetable broth for chicken broth, olive oil for butter and omitting the cream.
The pumpkin quote comes from this great web site, French Word-A-Day, which contains the French quotation plus some great pumpkin expressions. Did you know that in France, having a migraine is having a pumpkin head?
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This sounds delicious – perfect for the cold weather. Thanks for making it available!
Can’t wait to try this!
This sounds yummy, I will definitely try it out as it is getting colder here in the Northeast. My favorite pumpkin recipe is my mother’s pumpkin bisque. It’s easy, cheap, and filling, and can be made vegetarian or vegan by just a few ingredient switches. Recipe to follow:
1 fresh pie pumpkin, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped or 1 can UNFLAVORED pumpkin
3 shallots, finely diced
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock (or 1 can low sodium broth)
1 clove garlic, minced or run through a garlic press
2 Tbsp butter (can substitute butter alternative or vegetable oil)
2 Tbsp heavy cream (can substitute silken tofu)
2 sprigs fresh sage
pinch salt, black pepper, and nutmeg or mace
sweat (saute on low to medium heat until translucent) the garlic and shallots in the butter in a large nonstick saute pan. Add the pumpkin and continue to saute on medium heat until pumpkin is soft (if using canned, until pumpkin turns a darker hue), about 10-15 minutes. Add the stock and let simmer for another 10 minutes. Meanwhile, pick all of the sage leaves off of the sprigs, and fry in a small saute pan on high heat in a touch of butter, until just crisped. Set aside. When soup is done simmering, add a pinch each of nutmeg, salt, and black pepper, and blend with an immmersion blender or ladle into regular blender and blend in batches. Return to pan. Add in the cream. Adjust seasonings to taste. Garnish with fried sage leaves. Keeps in the fridge for 5 days, or in the freezer for 3 months.
Dear Waverley and your daughter,
Last weekend I used pumpkin for three recipes, a Thai influenced dish to serve with noodles, a cake with pumpkin puree in it and pumpkin soup and I still had half a pumpkin left!! So thanks for what looks like a great tasting chili. Will try it soon!
Pat
Posting seasonal recipes is an awesome idea, and like many of you, it’s a joy to collect them in my Book of Shadows. Is there an option for a print version that I’m not seeing?
This recipe really talks to me! I will just HAVE to make it! Thank you so much.
Dana
This looks like it will be easy to make and taste delicious! Am definitely serving it this fall—thank you for sharing it with us.
I agree…….sounds delicious and am adding this to my recipes to try!
I’m glad this is such a popular topic. I’ll have to try the pumpkin bisque, Danielle, and Pat, I’d love to see you post your recipes. Mary C, I don’t have a print version of the recipe. I think it would be easy to copy and print though.
My friend, Lyanda Haupt, just wrote to me to let me know her most recent blog post was on pumpkins. She provides a great recipe for pumpkin bread plus a wonderful pumpkin quote from The First Ladies Detective Agency, tips on cooking pumpkins, preserving pumpkin puree and roasting pumpkin seeds. Check it out at http://thetanglednest.com/2009/10/preserving-pumpkin/
OMG, someone else puts pumpkin in black bean chili!!! It’s the BEST.
does anyone have a recipe for pumpkin soup? I don’t recall ever seeing one, but it just sounds good. thanks in advance.