Ode to the Pumpkin

The month of October brings forth the annual pilgrimages by all to the nearest pumpkin patch.  On Long Island, the entire eastern north fork is devoted to the quest, evidenced by the clogging traffic congestion on roads whose designers never anticipated such volume.  The surrounding wineries, farm stands and restaurants have all capitalized on the pumpkin picking weekends as they offer fall festivals which become more and more spectacular each season.  We all visit the various farms that beckon to come and pick their pumpkins - pay us to complete our harvest so we don't have to!  It's all in fun, after all what would a front porch on Halloween be without the jack-o-lantern sentries to welcome our guests?  Uncarved pumpkins of varying size and color strategically arranged with colorful mums make for a warming entrance into our homes throughout November as well.


The pumpkin is a member of the gourd family, as are other squash and, yes, the watermelon.  Pumpkins have been a crop of North America dating back to the native Indians.  Embraced by the settlers who colonized America, it quickly earned its rightful place on the Thanksgiving table as pumpkin pie, this presentation retaining the starring role in Thanksgiving tradition ever since.


This year the white pumpkin is all the rage in sophisticated fall decor since they graced the covers of home magazines.  The humble round orange pumpkin has evolved indeed to a variety of sizes, shapes and colors.  I saw white ones, I saw hunter green ones, I saw buff shades and sagey grey-green hues.  There was even a plum-purple variety on display.  With all of the choices that abound, the best laid seasonal display for your home is a carefully chosen selection of several different specimens; and then the orange guys are destined to be carved into grinning and grimacing faces to adorn the steps and porch railings that surround our front doors.


What about the ones that don't make the cut for the role of Jack?  There are pumpkin recipes galore from September through November.  We can't run away from the pumpkins that surround us.  Their flavors, enhanced with autumn spices, appear to us wherever we turn, from pumpkin spiced latte at the coffee house and pumpkin doughnuts at every bakery to pumpkin-filled ravioli in the Italian markets and pumpkin bisques in the restaurants' stock pots.   Most recipes call for using canned pumpkin; Libby's is one brand, simply pureed pumpkin without added seasonings, it is perfectly acceptable for any recipe whether sweet or savory.  However, if you have an overabundance of pumpkins that your overzealous excitement loaded into the wagon out on that  pumpkin picking expedition, why not use them up?  They do make a perfect seasonal decoration through the Thanksgiving Day feast, but we all know darned well that the day after the feast, you'll be joyously evicting those pumpkins in lieu of reindeer and snowmen.


The process should be simple enough, much like baking an acorn squash.  Take the pumpkin and halve it.  Scoop out all of the seeds - by the way, a melon baller works wonders for that task.  Lightly rub the cut side with melted butter and place, cut side down, in a roasting pan.  If the pumpkin is large, you may need to use two roasting pans and you may need to cut it into quarters or even eighths.   Generally the smaller the pumpkin, the more tender it will be.  Place in a 425-degree oven for about an hour.  Remove from the oven, flip over the pieces so that the cut sides are face-up, a spoon should easily go deep into the flesh with no resistance, otherwise return to the oven and keep checking every fifteen minutes.  Once cooked, allow to cool completely, then scoop out the flesh.  Place the flesh into a very fine-meshed sieve, place the sieve over a large bowl and allow to drain for a couple of hours.  You don't want that added liquid that seeps out to end up ruining your recipe.  Next toss the pumpkin into the food processor and puree it, then deposit it into some tupperware and you're ready to cook!  My husband Brian is already being enlisted for a repeat performance of a pumpkin bisque he made a few years ago; it was creamy, velvety bliss.


If you reserve the seeds from the pumpkin, they can be husked and toasted.  These nutty-flavored toasted pumpkin seeds, called pepitas, are healthy snacks and also often used to top soups, salads and some Mexican dishes.


Here is the recipe for my grandmother's pumpkin bread, which she passed down to me when I was engaged to be married; it has become an annual fall tradition ever since.


Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients:   
2 ½ cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 eggs

½ cup vegetable oil

1 15-ounce can pumpkin

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour two loaf pans.  Mix all ingredients.  Divide batter between two pans.  Bake for 1¼  hours.  Cool before removing from pans; do not cut until completely cooled.  Makes 2 loaves.

Alternative: for my fellow chocolate lovers out there, substitute 1 cup of chocolate chips for the raisins.  I came up with this idea and acted on it one year, to the delight of my chocolate-loving husband.  Grandma loved chocolate as well, so I do not think she would disapprove!

The Harvest Moon: Ingredients for Quick Winter Eats

As the harvest moon brings cooling winds and falling leaves, you might be surveying the garden plots abundant with vegetables. It will soon be time to gather them all and whisk them indoors to safety from that first frost. Once you hear that foreboding prediction from your local meteorologist, you suddenly find your kitchen counter concealed by a blanket of freshly harvested tomatoes, squashes, basil, peppers and perhaps even fruits and pumpkins. This is a golden opportunity to stock up your freezer and your pantry. By cooking up batches of culinary delights from your garden ingredients, you will have the makings of some quick weekday meals to enjoy during the winter months.

When a frost is imminent, gather all of the tomatoes from the garden, even the green ones. Tomatoes will ripen indoors, simply place the green specimens into paper bags and place the bag into a cupboard or closet for several days, checking on them periodically. Once ripened, the best use for an overabundance of tomatoes is to make a marinara pasta sauce. Anyone with an Italian grandmother has a family recipe. If you are not blessed with such a relation in your family tree, there are so many recipes out there for the basic Italian red "gravy". The ingredient list usually includes, but is not restricted to, onions, garlic, tomatoes, basil, parsley and a splash of red wine. Cook a couple of large stockpots of the sauce; then ladle into quart-sized plastic food storage containers and freeze. When you anticipate a hectic day ahead, take a container out to thaw in the refrigerator during the day. When you come home on one of those cold, dark winter evenings, all you'll have to do is boil some spaghetti, heat the sauce and you have an instant simple pasta meal. All you'll need with it is a salad, some wine, and dessert. The sauce can also be used for other dishes, such as eggplant or chicken parmesan. While you are playing in the kitchen, you can also make up a couple of trays of lasagna using some of the sauce. Have one tray that evening for dinner and freeze the other tray for a future meal, lasagna is a very freezer-friendly entree.

Pesto sauce is also ideal for making ahead and freezing for a rainy - or, in this case, snowy - day. Pesto is simply basil leaves, parsley, garlic, olive oil, grated parmesan cheese and pignoli nuts whirred together in a food processor. Once again, make several batches of this, spoon it into plastic food containers, top with a film of olive oil before covering, and freeze. Once thawed, boil some fusili pasta and toss the cooked pasta with the pesto sauce, another quick pasta dinner that will make your Italian family sing for their supper. Pesto is also excellent spread on the inside of bread for a pannini, on top of fish before roasting, and stirred into soups.

Many soups also freeze well. One favorite is to make a soup with some cut up vegetables, freeze; then when you're ready to enjoy it, add a little pasta or some tortellini when reheating, serve with a spoonful of the pesto sauce on top. I would recommend adding any pastas to your soups only at the time of reheating, otherwise the pasta tends to absorb all of the liquid of the soup. You can also use some vegetables to boil into some water with salt, pepper and seasonings of your choosing, strain, and the result will be a base vegetable stock which you can freeze for future use when making soups. Adding chicken during the boiling process will provide you with chicken broth. There are recipes for every kind of stock you will ever need to start a soup with when that warming comfort food craving strikes.

Other things you can prepare for storage in your pantry will require the purchase of some canning jars. Bell peppers can be easily turned into roasted pepper salad. Roast the peppers, let them cool, remove the peel and the seeds and tear into strips. Toss them into a homemade olive oil-balsamic vinaigrette and divide into the jars. Close the sealing lids, and you'll have roasted peppers all winter for use as a small side-dish salad, tossed into larger salads or pastas, as a filler for sandwiches or a topping for pizzas.

If you have harvested berries from your garden, make some homemade jam. There isn't much to making jam, and it can simmer in a large pot while you take care of other household tasks (like laundry or catching up on your e-mails). Once the jam is done, allow to cool to room temperature, ladle into canning jars and seal. You'll have the best and most natural topping for english muffins or scones for Sunday breakfast with your family, only a pantry door away. Another nice use would be stirred into plain yogurt, or warmed to drizzling consistency and spooned over ice cream.

Turn zucchini and pumpkins into tasty sweet breads. I have a recipe for my grandmother's pumpkin-nut bread which yields two loaves. We eat one fresh and warm the day it comes out of the oven, the other loaf I freeze for when we want an afternoon treat one winter's afternoon in front of a DVD. Zucchini bread and pumpkin bread both freeze well. Of course remember to save a few pumpkins for fall decoration and jack-o-lantern carving, a festive seasonal sentry for your front door.

If you have achieved an enthusiastic green thumb, one aspect of kitchen gardening can be enjoyed all year from your kitchen window. Herbs are very simple to grow, and add a fresher, superior flavor to dishes than their store-bought dried counterparts. If you have a sunny window sill in your kitchen, plant four to six herbs which you use most often. You can satiate your gardening needs all winter long, and benefit from that fresh herb taste in your cooking.

Finally, you may as well cook up a batch of harvest for your dinner tonight. A ratatouille is essentially a French vegetable stew, the basic ingredients being eggplant, zucchini, onion, garlic, tomato and bell pepper, plus some herbs. It makes an excellent side dish accompaniment to any meat. It is also good as a main dish when browned chicken pieces then simmer in the stew with the vegetables. Serve ratatouille over a couple of grilled portobello mushrooms, or over pasta or couscous and you have an excellent vegetarian dish. You can also add any other ingredients to the basic recipe that your creative genius comes up with: chick peas, olives, Italian sausages, saffron, whatever you find in your pantry. It's a very flexible dish, and it's a colorful way to serve up some of those harvested late summer veggies.

By devoting an autumn day to harvesting and cooking, you can be rewarded into the winter months with some nutritious and flavorful treats, courtesy of your last summer's garden. You will know exactly what ingredients went into your pasta sauce or pumpkin dessert bread. Knowing this fact and knowing that you grew the vegetables and fruits yourself make all of the above ideas comfort foods in themselves that will warm your soul as the flavors transport you back to sunny days spent toiling in your garden. By the time you eat your way through that stash of harvest goodies, it will be time to begin reflecting and planning next summer's garden!