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Jo Miller takes the oddly pocked 'peanut' heirloom pumpkin out of the oven.
Jo Miller looks over a 'peanut' heirloom pumpkin fresh from the oven in her outdoor kitchen at Miller Farms in Spotsylvania County.
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BY EMILY BATTLE
If you are about to add canned pumpkin to your shopping list as you transition to an autumn-themed menu, you should know you're missing a chance to bring some real conversation-starters into your kitchen.
Can you really resist gourds with names like "Long Island cheese," "lumina," "red warty thing" and "one too many"?
That last one is so named because the red veins that cover its light-colored skin make it look like a bloodshot eyeball--what you get when you have one too many.
These are a few of the heirloom pumpkin varieties that Jo Miller and her family have been growing for the past five years on their Spotsylvania County farm.
The big orange pumpkins most of us carve into jack-o-lanterns are certainly edible, but they are not the best for cooking.
They're a little too stringy and watery, not "the thick, nice texture you're looking for," Miller said.
The tan, white, green, bluish and reddish-orange pumpkins the Millers grow have the denser flesh that is better for baked goods and other foods.
Photographer Suzanne Carr Rossi took a few varieties home and found the white "lumina" to be both the least watery and the sweetest.
In the outdoor teaching kitchen at her farm, Miller tries to make whole, fresh pumpkins a less-intimidating presence in the kitchen.
She distributes a handwritten sheet at her cooking classes outlining a method for making fresh pumpkin puree--the basic building block of most pumpkin recipes. It's a method she thinks anyone can fit into their routine.
Some cookbooks tell you to peel a pumpkin while it's still raw. This is difficult, labor-intensive and can be dangerous if you're not careful with your knife.
Others tell you to boil pumpkin. This leeches nutrients and flavor out of the fruit and into the water.
Miller's method calls for the pumpkin to be halved and then roasted cut-side down in an oven, until the soft flesh separates easily from the skin.
It's more work than putting can-opener to can, but the velvety, deep-colored puree you end up with is a lot more appetizing than the cylinder of orange goo you get from a can.
I bought a tan "Long Island cheese" pumpkin--said to be the premier pie pumpkin--from Miller's farm market and was able to break it down into puree over the course of a Friday night that included a trip out to dinner and a movie.
Large gourds have been an unwelcome presence in my kitchen ever since I got into an extended knife-fight with a very stubborn butternut squash a few years ago.
But I was able to follow Miller's method without any glitches. The only surprise was how easily I was able to repeat what I had seen her do at the farm.
The pumpkin--at 5 inches in height and 10 in diameter--yielded four cups of puree, plus a little extra, which I threw into oatmeal and pancake batter over the weekend.
Even the small amounts of puree I used in these dishes added a festive golden glow and a subtle pumpkin flavor.
I haven't decided what to do with the two zipper-top bags of bright-orange puree now decorating my freezer. But after browsing through a few cookbooks and checking out some Web sites, it appears I have no shortage of options.
But don't think puree is the only way you can use pumpkin for cooking.
In a small, well-photographed cookbook titled "Pumpkin Butternut & Squash," author Elsa Petersen-Schepelern offers a diverse array of ways to serve this fall gourd.
Her recipes include fried Caribbean-spiced pumpkin chips, salads with roasted cubes of pumpkin and pumpkin stir-fried into a Vietnamese chicken curry.
The gourds can also be used as serving pieces.
Miller recommends ladling individual servings of pumpkin soup into small, hollowed-out pumpkins, or serving the soup from a larger pumpkin as if it were
You're not going to get that kind of presentation out of
Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com
Wash the outside of the pumpkin thoroughly with soap and a scrub brush. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and leave only the bottom rack in the stove. Cut the pumpkin in half, from the stem to the base. Remove all seeds and stringy pulp from the cavity. Save the seeds to roast later. Put both halves (or one at a time if the pumpkin is too big) cut-side down on a rimmed baking sheet. The rim is important because water may accumulate in the pan as the pumpkin bakes. Do not add any oil, butter Bake at 350 degrees Remove the pumpkin from the oven and let it cool for an hour or so. Then, peel the flesh away from the rind with your hands. Put the pumpkin pulp in Put the puree into a colander lined with wet coffee filters or cheesecloth. Let puree drain overnight, or for about 12 hours. Some types of pumpkins have more water than others, but your baked goods will turn out much better if you remove as much water as Once the puree has drained, it's ready to use. You could use it as baby food (add a little formula if you want to thin it out) or add it to any number of recipes. Because this product has no preservatives, it will keep in the refrigerator for only two to three days. If you don't plan to use the puree immediately, store it in freezer bags in 2-cup portions. These flatten nicely for the freezer. For more on Miller Farms, |
PUMPKIN WAFFLES Prep time: 15 to 20 minutes 2 cups flour |
MILLER FAMILY PUMPKIN PUDDING Prep time: 15 to 20 minutes For pudding: For topping: Bake uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes, or until set. Check Serve warm with freshly whipped cream. Sprinkle top with a few shavings of fresh nutmeg. Recipe from: Jo Miller, Miller Farms |
PUMPKIN-CARROT MUFFINS Prep time: 15 to 20 minutes 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour |
