How I turned 2 pumpkins into 6 different meals
Soup, spread, salad, and more!
Sometimes I get tired of writing and feel like I need a break to refill my cup. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been doing that by turning to cooking as a creative outlet. I’ve always been into food, but lately, I’ve enjoyed getting lost in the planning and cooking process, figuring out how to pair things in the best way or what comes first, second, and so on. It’s meditative. I’m in love with the plating process; it’s like an art that I’m aiming to improve at with each new cooking experiment.
Earlier this month, I went a little pumpkin crazy and came up with six recipes/meals using two medium-sized red pumpkins. Now that I’ve documented it all and sorted through the photos, I don’t think I want to look at another pumpkin until next October!
But of course, my boyfriend’s parents are coming to visit us this month (from Turkey), and he thinks they might like my famous pumpkin spread, so I guess pumpkin season is not over for me yet. In my 40 years on this planet, this was my first time cooking with pumpkin, so I went all in and experimented with a few ideas based on some ingredients that I thought might go well together. I did a little investigating online, just to make sure it wasn’t crazy to mix certain things, but aside from that, all these recipes were developed by me. Does this officially make me a recipe developer? Not sure… but I figured some of you might also love to cook, so that’s why I’m sharing the recipes below.
Happy cooking and eating!
Alexis
P.S. This post is long, so if you’re reading it in your inbox, I suggest opening it here. Also, if you’re not into food writing, feel free to skip right over this one!
THE RECIPES (all 6 of them)
1. Red curry and coconut milk pumpkin soup
Ingredients (serves 4–6)
1 medium red pumpkin, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
3 heaping tbsp red curry paste
2 cans creamy coconut milk (400 ml each)
Sunflower seed oil (for cooking)
Habanero red pepper (optional, for extra heat)
Cilantro, to garnish
Salt, to taste (add at the end, if necessary — curry paste is already salty)
Cooking instructions
Prep pumpkin. Peel and chop pumpkins into 1-inch cubes.
Sauté. Heat sunflower oil in the same large pot you plan to use for the soup. Add pumpkin and cook until it begins to turn golden brown.
Add curry paste. Stir in the red curry paste and mix until the pumpkin is evenly coated.
Add coconut milk. Pour in coconut milk until only the tips of the pumpkin are poking out. Stir well.
Simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer for ~30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pumpkin starts to fall apart.
Blend. Remove from heat and use an immersion blender until you reach desired consistency (I like it smooth and creamy).
Finish. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt if needed.
Serve. Garnish with fresh cilantro and a sprinkle of chopped Habanero red pepper if you like extra spice.
I was a bit nervous about cutting the pumpkins at first, but once I figured out how to do it without chopping off a finger, it was quick!
2. Roasted pumpkin spread with a kick
Ingredients
1/2 red pumpkin, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces (using cutting method in video above)
Olive oil
Garlic (2–4 cloves, depending on your love for garlic)
1 tsp salt
1/2–1 tsp of cumin
A few small slices of a Habanero red pepper (optional, for extra heat)
1–2 tbsp water
Cooking instructions
Prep pumpkin. Peel and chop pumpkins into 1-inch cubes.
Roast. Dump pieces in an oven-safe pan and add olive oil, cumin, garlic cloves, and Habanero red pepper. Bake at 220°C / 425°F for 20–30 minutes.
Blend. Let cool for 10–15 minutes, then use a NutriBullet or food processor to blend to the desired consistency. I added 2 tbsp of water while blending to thin it out a little.
Serve. There are so many ways to serve this (including as a cracker or chip dip), but I’ve listed a few spread ideas below!
3. Pumpkin goat cheese prosciutto crostini
This was really good! And once you’ve made the pumpkin spread that I explained above, all you need is:
1 baguette (or whatever bread you prefer)
Proscuitto
Goat cheese
Fresh thyme
Olive oil
Honey (we have homemade chestnut honey from Turkey — K’s mom has beehives)
Instructions
Slice baguette (I think it looks pretty on a diagonal).
Toast it in the oven or in a pan like I did (we just got a new, slightly larger countertop oven, and I learned that we don’t have enough power to use it at the same time as our washing machine, so I toasted the baguette in a pan — can’t wait to renovate! lol).
Add pumpkin spread, goat cheese, prosciutto, olive oil, thyme, and drizzle of honey.
Enjoy!
4. Add an egg and sundried tomato
The next morning, I used the same crostini ingredients to make an open-faced egg sandwich. I topped it off with a sunny-side up egg and sundried tomato. I screwed up when I was plating it, so one egg looks more like an over-easy one. 🍳 This was a delicious and indulgent Monday morning breakfast, but it only took a few minutes to make because the pumpkin spread was waiting for me in the fridge. Yum!
5. Cottage cheese and pumpkin
I know pumpkin has loads of nutritional benefits, including vitamin A, C, and potassium, and it’s relatively low in calories, but at the time of writing, I’m realizing that it’s a miracle I didn’t turn into a pumpkin this week.
For lunch (on the same Monday), I ate cottage cheese topped with:
Pumpkin spread
Sundried tomatoes
Olive oil
Fresh thyme
Red pepper flakes
I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, and if I’d want to share it, but it was tasty, quick, and so filling!
6. Pumpkin feta mint salad
Another quick pumpkin meal is this salad made with roasted pieces of pumpkin (following roasting instructions above), crumbled feta, fresh mint, olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
I finished the pumpkin puree today by spreading the last bit on Wasa crackers and topping it with prosciutto and sundried tomato.
I buy whole wheat (“volkoren” in Dutch) Wasa crackers.
I suspect the pumpkin spread that I made by roasting the pumpkin with olive oil, garlic, cumin, and Habanero red pepper would also be a great ravioli filler, but I’d better save that one for next year!
This was SOO good! Thank you!
Cooking is also my creative recharge and I LOVE pumpkin. These recipes look great. I hope you recover and can stomach more pumpkin this fall!