16 Oct Pumpkin Memories
This week’s Test Kitchen Note comes from Chef Lia, our intrepid test kitchen teammate and researcher extraordinaire:
Every Fall I would go on a quest for the perfect pumpkin. I was not much of a pumpkin carver, but I sought the most perfect pumpkin on which to draw a happy face (I wasn’t interested in making scary ones!). Of course, because I was always cooking something, there was also a requirement that I have a fresh pumpkin to create my culinary delights with.
At the top of the list were freshly roasted pumpkin seeds. After all, you spend so much time scraping out the inside of the pumpkin to prepare it for roasting, you can’t possibly throw out all those delicious seeds! I would painstakingly pick all the seeds out of the fibrous web, rinse them thoroughly, salt them, lay them out on a cookie sheet and roast. While they were cooling, I would move on to other pumpkin preparation activities as the long-awaited pumpkin pie was put on the holiday request list.
Now, you must understand that I grew up in a family of dedicated eaters who would consume anything that was in full sight, so it doesn’t surprise me that not one of those seeds was left when it was time for me to snack. No, my older brothers got to them first (truly, it was my fault for leaving them in plain sight!).
Preparing the pumpkin wasn’t difficult, just time consuming: I would cut the pumpkin into quarters and roast it to a soft, golden goodness. Once cooled, I would scrape off the pulp, mash (by hand, as I didn’t have a food processor back then) and put it in the fridge until needed for that perfect pie.
My fondest memory of pumpkins past was a terrific, not too difficult pie recipe found on the paper that lines the frozen pie shells. It was a deliciously decadent pie with layers of buttery crust, cheesecake and pumpkin pie served with a large dollop of whipped cream — I can still remember the taste (I must search my archives and find that recipe!). This pie was a substitute for the traditional “all pumpkin” pie, as my family didn’t really like pumpkin; however, once they tasted this version (only a thin layer of pumpkin pie), it became a staple at every Thanksgiving dinner.
One thing is for sure: I had way too much free time back then, and spent it taking apart pumpkins for cooking. My preferred pumpkin today is the canned variety, which is actually much better tasting. Pumpkins grown for decorating really are quite bland, and the kinds used for cooking are sometimes hard to find because they are typically smaller and grown in less quantity. Some chefs, I am told, like to substitute hubbard squash for the pumpkin; surely, if you have the time to prep the fresh squash, this is a great substitute but with a much different taste.
I understand that here on Long Island we will sadly have a limited supply of pumpkins this year — the unpredictable weather destroyed most of the growing season for those really big pumpkins. Alas, pumpkin culinary delights will not suffer thanks to the manufacturers who provide us pumpkin puree all year round!