When I was a child we only ever saw pumpkins in fairy-tale books, and the only squash we ever had was orange or lemon squash to drink… We didn’t know it, and nor did our parents I’m sure, that we ate squash too except we called it vegetable marrow. Many people don’t like marrow, or only like it as a container to some stuffing, usually mincemeat, but I like it as a vegetable with very peppery white sauce.
Pumpkins gradually began to appear around Halloween, to be carved into lanterns – formerly turnips, swede or mangelwurzels were carved out (with much difficulty because they are rock hard) Now shops are full of pumpkins as we approach autumn, and the are also full of squashes – the vegetable kind, of all descriptions. I really like them, and I particularly like them made into soup.
I was looking through Becky Duffet’s recipes and as usual she had some lovely suggestions… How about this:
Pumpkin curry with chicken and basil
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste,
- 1 can 15 oz coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce,
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 8 oz cubed pumpkin
- 6 oz cooked shredded chicken
- 1 red pepper, sliced
- basil leaves a
- to serve steamed brown or white rice.
- add the curry paste, coconut milk, fish sauce, and brown sugar to a pan
- whisk and bring to a simmer
- add the pumpkin and cook until tender (about 15 mins)
- add the chicken and pepper
- heat through
- serve garnished with basil leaves over the steamed rice
Or how about these ideas:
- Pumpkin pasta with bacon and sage
- Pumpkin bread or muffins
- Pumpkin porridge
- Autumn salad with butternut squash and Brussels sprouts
- Curried butternut squash soup with spiced pumpkin seeds
Here is a link to Becky’s recipes and ideas:
https://blog.fitbit.com/pumpkin-recipes/#comment-72629
My featured image is of my butternut squash soup
Lois Elsden 