Recipe and images by Kathy Paterson
A pumpkin in the kitchen shouts autumn and winter cooking and there is nothing better than the reliable but very elegant Crown pumpkin. Its blue-grey skin and sweet orange flesh suits many dishes, albeit rather hard to cut through the skin!
Sometimes I find myself reaching for Butternut squash with its bulb-shaped, smooth, pale tan skin and orange flesh, and Buttercup squash with its ridged green or orange skin. All three are commonly grown in the Waikato, but we can thank Central America for its contribution to our autumn/winter food heritage.
There are endless uses for pumpkin – pumpkin soup still remains a firm favourite and by adding pumpkin pieces to a chicken and vegetable soup recipe, you have a keeper. Roasting wedges of pumpkin intensifies flavour and moisture just as it does with beetroot. Pumpkin flesh loves butter, olive oil and cream. Italians cook pumpkin risotto and pasta dishes using cubes of pumpkin – it’s brilliant.
Here are some winter sides with pumpkin shining through.
Pumpkin and Macaroni Pasta
Rich and roux-less! This recipe is loosely based around Jenny McGruther’s (a cookbook writer who celebrates heritage cooking and traditional foods) pumpkin macaroni.
Arrowroot is my go-to thickener, as it doesn’t alter flavour and gives a smooth texture to a dish (no gloopy pasta here). Just watch you don’t allow the sauce to boil as arrowroot slackens it thickening properties if boiled.
If you want to whip this dish up in no time, keep some pumpkin puree in the freezer.
Serves 4
1 cup dried macaroni pasta
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp arrowroot starch
¾ cup pumpkin puree, see recipe below
¾ cup cream (Tatua cooking cream works well too)
Cook the macaroni pasta in plenty of salted boiling water according to the packet instructions. Drain, reserving about one cup of the cooking water.
Meanwhile, mix together the cheese and arrowroot.
Put the pumpkin puree and cream in a saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until hot and combined.
Reduce heat to low and add the cheese and arrowroot mix. Stir well, adding some of the reserved cooking water to thin the sauce as you carefully heat. Taste and add salt, if needed.
Add the cooked macaroni pasta and mix well. Serve straightaway as a side dish and definitely with the addition of a bowl of wilted rainbow chard or spinach.
Roasted Pumpkin Puree
¼–½ Crown pumpkin, cut down between its naturally curved lines (each piece about 5cm in width)
Roast in the oven at 180°C for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until completely tender.
Once cool enough to handle, remove the skin and mash the orange flesh until you have a smooth puree.
Pumpkin freezes well, so freeze any remainder for the next time you make this recipe.