Tags
Autumn recipes, cancer, cancer fighting diet, Carotenoids, heart disease, Leftover Pumpkin recipes, Pumpkin as a superfood, Pumpkin nutrition, Pumpkin Shortage, Pumpkin Traybake cake, Pumpkin waste, Roasted Pumpkin and Sage soup, Superfood
A Pumpkin shortage this Halloween meant many people had to go without. Unusually wet weather in the north of England caused thousands of pumpkins to rot. Despite this shortage the Telegraph reported that 18,000 tons of pumpkin would be binned in the U.K after carving Jack-O-Lanterns for Halloween. That’s the same weight as 15,00 double-decker buses.
It’s everyone’s responsibility to cut back on food wastage, so before you throw out any pumpkins leftover from Halloween why not consider having a go at one of these simple yet delicious recipes.
The nutrients in Pumpkin are really world class so even more reason to use up any leftovers. High in fibre and low in calories, pumpkin is full of disease fighting nutrients such as potassium, pantothenic acid, magnesium and vitamins C and E. The key nutrient that makes pumpkin a superfood is its synergistic combination of carotenoids. Carotenoids have been shown to decrease the risk of various cancers and have shown great promise in lowering the rates of heart disease. They have also been shown to decrease the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration.
You can now like surreyKitchen on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/SurreyKitchen/1564755667079673
Emma’s Roasted Pumpkin and Sage Soup.
A refreshing and healthy way to use up that Halloween pumpkin.
Serves Four
Time: 1hr:20 mins.
Ingredients
1 medium pumpkin/squash. (This recipe works best with Carnival Squash, Red Kabocha Squash or Sweet Dumpling Varieties).
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
Sea salt and black pepper
Olive oil
1 litre vegetable stock
6 sage leaves chopped.
Preparation Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Cut the top off your pumpkin and clean out the seeds. Season the inside with sea salt and black pepper. Roast in the centre of the oven for 1 hour or until tender. Leave to cool for ten minutes.
2) Fry onions and garlic in a medium saucepan until tender.
3) Add 1 litre of vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.
4) Scoop out pumpkin flesh and add to the stock. Mix in the chopped sage. Stir thoroughly and set aside to cool for 15 minutes.
5) When the soup is cool enough label contents into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a clean saucepan and reheat the soup before serving.
Emma’s Pumpkin Traybake.
If you like carrot cake then you’ll love my pumpkin traybake. A perfect pick me up for dreary Autumn days.
Serves 12-15
Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
Cake
1) 300g Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Flesh-grated.
2) 300g self-raising flour
3) 300g caster sugar
4) 1 large handful of sultanas
5) 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
6) 4 eggs
7) 200g melted butter
8) 1 tsp cinnamon
9) 1 tsp mixed spice
10) A splash of orange juice
Cream Cheese Frosting
1) 1 200g pack of cream cheese
2) 2 tbsp icing sugar
3) Chopped walnuts or chocolate shavings for topping
Preparation Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Grease and line a 30×20 traybake tin with baking paper.
2) Add the flour, sugar, spice, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda and the sultanas to a large mixing bowl. Stir thoroughly.
4) Add the melted butter, the beaten eggs and the orange juice to the mixture. Stir together.
5) Mix in the pumpkin.
6) Pour the cake mix into the tin and bake for thirty minutes, or until golden brown on top.
7) To make the frosting scoop the cream cheese into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add two table spoons of icing sugar and mix together until they form a smooth icing. Refrigerate for later.
8) Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool completely.
9) Give the cream cheese frosting a stir to loosen and spread over the cake with a palette knife. Chop walnuts and sprinkle over the top or decorate with chocolate shavings instead.
Follow http://www.surreyKitchen.com now on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/SurreyKitchen/1564755667079673
Brilliant post! I froze all the flesh, so these recipes will come in really useful.
I am glad you can make use of them.
Oh, Miles us AMAZING!!!!
Everyone loves Miles. He’s the real star of surreyKitchen and such a poser.
Wonderful photos and recipes – a good idea to put the pumpkin into the oven so that it becomes tender – Thank you !
I am glad you enjoyed the post. Have a great week.
Love your pumkin tray bake. Scrumptious.
Have a lovely day.
🙂 Mandy xo
You should definitely give it a whirl. It really is delicious.
Pumpkin is one of my favorite fall flavors. I love the idea of incorporating sage into the the soup! Sage is one of those spices that I always have a hard time finding a use for. Usually it sits in my cupboard until Thanksgiving and I use it for stuffing. I look forward to giving in a whirl in a soup recipe- wonderful idea 🙂
I like sage too and you are right it isn’t always easy knowing what to do with it. Enjoy the soup. Emma.
Great recipe ideas. Of course, now hallowe’en is over all the pumpkins have been magicked away from the supermarkets and it’s as if they were never there … hmph. Heaven forbid anyone should actually want one to eat. I’ll have to hunt some down to make your delicious soup with – sage and pumpkin are so great together and pumpkin makes such a velvety bowlful of yumminess!
I love your new look blog too – very chic 🙂
I am glad you like the new look of the blog. It is great to have some feedback. Enjoy the soup. Emma.
No shortage in the US! Your recipes look tasty! I LOVE pumpkin recipes and tey to make tons of recipes too. Roasted pumkin ravioli with pancetta and a whole pumpkin stuffed with apples, walnuts sugar and spice are two of my favorites!
Roasted pumpkin ravioli sounds wonderful. Take care Johanne. Emma.
I had my first pumpkin this year. It was a learning curve. I found out that you can’t scoop it out THEN carve it. Most disappointing as I was going to do Edvard Munch’s The Scream. I then found out that pumpkin pie, if I was doing it right, isn’t fruity and isn’t a pie, but a custard tart. I then found out, after eating it, that carving pumpkins aren’t, they say, for eating! Not a scrap wasted here, though, but with that advice you can see why people are chucking them.
FM
It isn’t entirely correct that you can not eat carving pumpkins. They are fine for baking if you are making a recipe with lots of sugar that will take away the bitter edge. The other varieties of pumpkin and squash are much better for making soups or risottos. I always scoop mine before carving and then put aside for baking later. You could even freeze the pumpkin. Supermarkets make up their own rules i’m afraid. Take care. Emma.
I stopped buying pumpkins because I never knew what to do with it after I was done. Thanks for this post and the tips.
You are very welcome. Pumpkins are to delicious not to eat and there are so many fun ways of cooking them. Take care. Emma.