Large pumkin - cooking advice

Hi there, I have just harvested my one and only "Atlantic giant pumkin" which I grew this year just for fun. It is not the 1200Lb monster I had hoped for, weighing in at a mere 10/15 Lbs..... still, not bad for a first attempt...and fun to do

My question... would anyone know what would be a good way to cook and or preserve it as I have read up on several pumkin recipes, but have read it is best to use "smaller" squash size pumkins, saying the the larger "carving" types are tough and tasteless.

Many thanks

Steve

 

Well done Steve! In terms of having it as 'roasted pumpkin', yes the smaller ones are more tasty - but these Atlantic Giants are grown to be humungous, not tasty But.....we grow them as well for the kids to carve their jackolanterns out of each year. I also scoop out alot of the flesh before they light their candle in it, and I bake it slowly for about five hours. This is the pulp that I use in pumpkin pie (we always have them for our Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas - usually others left as gifts, and make some small tartlet sized ones too for party trays). With the seeds, I roast those as well - toss in a little oil, roast them until golden and then lay them out on paper towel to absorb any excess oil/greasy film on them. Season them with your salt, or leave plain - can also use a mixture of seasonings - garlic granules, onion granules etc., to create your own taste. They are great - kids love them (eat like sunflower seeds).
Also pumpkin/cream of pumpkin soup is another good use for excess pumpkin - very tasty and a little bit of cumin in it and it's delish
We used to live a few miles from the guy who grows/provides the seeds to T&M for the Giant Atlantic - he used to harvest the seeds, and then local kids could get the pumpkin - so we always had huge pumpkins on our lawn at Halloween in Canada......not so huge here, 'cos like you, I don't get the monsters either!

 

Pumpkin soup, quick, easy, freezes well and especially delicious with a good slug of Worcester sauce at a fireworks party. There's always pumpkin pie too.

 

Thankyou for your wonderfull replies...could I ask if you have a personal "best" recipe, or if you could point me to a good pumkin pie recipe on t' tinternet.

Many thanks:gnthb:
Steve.

 

It's great in cakes, and I did a squash risotto recently, with squash poached and mixed into the risotto, with roasted on the top. It tasted surprisingly good.

This kind of thing:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7767/butternut-squash-and-sage-risotto

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4777/halloween-pumpkin-cake

 

I'm not the sort of cook who uses scales very often, but my pumpkin soup recipe includes:

1 pumpkin - usually the biggest in the supermarket (since they sell only silly little ones)
1 onion
Couple of carrots
Bacon
Skinned tomatoes
Vegetable stock
Mixed herbs, seasoning and pinch of curry powder

Peel and chop the vegetables, chop the bacon and drop the whole lot into a large saucepan or preserving pan with all the other ingredients. Add the stock, bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer until pumpkin is soft. 'Blitz' in a food processor - this usually results in quite a thick puree which I freeze 'as is', diluting to taste when serving (it takes up less freezer room that way).

 

I think NatalieB answered you regarding the particular pumpkin you are referring too "but these Atlantic Giants are grown to be humungous, not tasty".

But in general, there are lots of recipes to use pumpkin for: If I had a barrel of "eating" type of pumpkins and wanted to preserve them for future use, what I would do----Is simply clean them out, cut in large pieces and roast it all (except the seeds). Then when cooled, take the skin off throw them in a food processor and puree them and ladle the goop into several 2 cup freezer containers. And throw in the freezer. In the future I would know that it is simply pureed roasted pumpkin without any spices so from there I can go to any other recipe.

 

There are good recipes on www.allrecipes.com. They're great and come with reviews an suggestions from those who have tried the recipe.

Squash risotto is very good. I usually do it in the slow cooker using pearl barley and stir in gorgonzola cheese at the end.

Here's a Deep Dish Potato and Pumpkin Pie.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Deep-D...-26&prop28=DailyRecipe&prop29=FullRecipe&me=1

Best wishes

Susanna

 

Hi there Natalie,

Thanks for you reply to my thread the other day, could I ask you a question, as you seem to have a Phd in "pumkins". When I cut open the pumkin I found the insides disigned slightly different to the pumkins we have purchased at the supermarket in the past.
Normally, when purchased, one finds a definate centre which is full of seeds, hundreds all grouped togetherwhich one scoops out until you get to the flesh, you can then scoop out the flesh until you get to the skin.
When I cut open the "little monster" I had grown "the 15Ib Atlantic giant pumkin" I found it slighty different..... There was no seperate "centre" of seeds...the centre was more fleshy right to the middle, with the seeds buried within the flesh... about a 1/4 to 1/2 way out from the middle, the seeds being scattered about within the flesh, "a bit like in a pomigranate... if you see what I mean.

Is this standard for the "Atl' giant" or is it because it had not grown to anywhere near full size and therefore not fully developed. (Some of the guys at one of my "local" grow pumkins to hundreds of pounds in weight, one having won the largest in britain some years ago...winning a two week holiday to florida for two for his prize:yho:

As it is a pain to have to pick out the seeds, is it okay to cook the flesh with the seeds in-cased, and use it for pies and soups anyway?????

Hope you get what I mean:snz::snz:

You can answer on the forum as I will post this on my thread as well!!!!

Many thanks

Steve.