6 Ways to use Your Holiday Pumpkin: What I Made Using a Store-Bought Pumpkin

kalianieg
6 days ago
4 min read

Happy November! This post is a continuation of “Memory of The Past: Pumpkin Puree Recipe” where I share how to make pumpkin puree for syrup. It was my first time working with pumpkins, so I wanted to document my cooking journey. You can read about my other blogs in the past on my blog page or search the topics: Borage and Flor de calabaza. I have covered the topic of pumpkins a few years back so I won't go into details with history here. You can find that under “ A Gardener's Journey With Pumpkins.” Anyway, let's get into today's topic.

6 Ways I used my pumpkin that I bought at the store.

Pumpkin Puree
- If you haven't yet roasted a pumpkin. It's a very easy and simple process. The hard part is cutting it in half. Some people use the microwave method to soften your squash of choice a bit then cut it open. I haven’t tried it but I put down a dish towel and found a stable position for the pumpkin on top of it. Then you insert the tip of your knife at an angle and cut down. It gets the job done. Once partially cut into, you can twist your knife. This will crack it open and then just rip it fully open. Preheating the oven, place the two pieces faced down on a pan lined with parchment paper. When the oven is hot enough, put your pumpkins into the oven. You will know when they are done when you poke it and it is soft. The skin of the pumpkin would also be discolored. Cook time depends on how high you heat your oven and the size of your pumpkin. At 350 degrees fahrenheit it could take up to two hours. I say that because I accidentally forgot I had the pumpkin baking in the oven. Once cooled down the skin should fall off the meat of the pumpkin. Mash or blend the flesh of the pumpkin, then you should have a puree that will serve a purpose for many recipes that even your dog would love!
Pumpkin Tortillas:
- Tortillas are just maize flour and water. The texture should be a dough that's moldable, not too dry and not too wet. When adding pumpkin into the mix you will need to cut back on the water and replace it with pumpkin. I will suggest adding the pumpkin first then slowly add the water to the masa. The texture will be a bit sticky due to the pumpkin. You will then need to shape them into a circle and heat them on a flat pan. I used a rolling pin and plastic cling wrap to make it easier to roll out and take off the table. I used the tortillas for some chicken quesadillas.
Shredded Chicken
- Loosely following the recipe to make tinga by memory. I roasted some tomatoes, onions, garlic, bell peppers and chiles. These vegetables cooked together, I would say more closely resemble guatemalan chirmol. Because I'm Guatemalan and not Mexican I also added some cilantro. You can’t have your chirmol without cilantro. Everyone makes their sauces differently, so make it however you like to make it. After cooking your veggies, blend them up with some broth or water as well as some pumpkin puree. Then add them to your boiled shredded chicken in a pan. You will want to let it cook to absorb the flavors. What I learned from adding pumpkin to my chirmol was that the pumpkin will thicken when cooled so I would add more water. You can keep it thick and chunky if you like. I had a bunch of chirmol left over and was able to use it on eggs for breakfast or on toast. This was very delicious and I actually like how thick it got.
Quesadillas
- Like I mentioned earlier I used my pumpkin tortillas and turned them into quesadillas. I tried a tip online to brown the cheese first. It brings out a crispy fried cheese flavor. Make sure it's mozzarella since it browns nicely because of the fats. Once melted on the pan, add your cooked tortilla on top and let it stick well. The cheese should release from the pan easy to be able to flip it. Next you will want to fill it up with the chicken you made. Fold it and grill it on the sides till it becomes nice and crispy. I paired my quesadillas with squash soup I made earlier that week. Just dip and eat. My new favorite thing is to make soups and now that we have entered soup season, we will have a soup ranking of my favorite kinds.
Pumpkin Pound Cake
- I could have taken a poundcake recipe and adjusted it to include pumpkin, but I decided to follow a recipe I found online. For my first time trying the recipe, something about the poundcake ingredients didn't hold its shape. I am not too sure as to what I did wrong. Maybe my oven wasn't hot enough. Anyways the flavor was all there, and it cooked well. There just wasn't a nice dome on it like the pictures showed. The recipe was enough for two pound cakes so the second one I added chocolate chips. My original plan was to make a cream cheese frosting but I had forgotten to buy some.
Pumpkin Syrup
- In my previous blog I mentioned I made Pumpkin syrup. It was really good and I used it for drinks, cookies, and as a topping for deserts. I was hoping to make many more things but in a way I accidentally over-pumpkined myself and some of the puree became bad in the fridge which is okay since I used the majority of it. Next time I will probably freeze part of the batch so it wont all go bad.