Fresh Puree' Pumpkin
recipe found on Pioneer Woman's Blog
2 small-ish / medium size Pumpkins
UPDATE: I tried to bake the pumpkins without cutting them in half before hand and it works PERFECTLY! Here is an updated photo too! And WOW! so easy to cut them in half after they are baked rather then cutting off your hand :-)
Cut the pumpkin in half (after you bake is my new preferred method). With a spoon or a scoop, scrape out the seeds and pulp from the center (you will now do this after baking). Place all the seeds into a bowl (we will still be roasting them later, I will be posting a recipe for pepitas). Repeat until all the pumpkin pieces are largely free of seeds and pulp.
Place pumpkin on a baking sheet (face up, face down or just throw the entire pumpkin in the oven) and roast in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until pumpkin is fork-tender. They should be nice and light golden brown when done.
Peel off the skin from the pumpkin pieces. In a food processor, throw in a few chunks at a time (a blender will work too or simply mash with a potato masher), you may need to add in a little bit of water (in my second and third batch NO water was needed and I like the thickier pumpkin to bake with). Pulse the pumpkin until smooth.
Dump the pureed goodness into a bowl, and you can either use this immediately in whatever pumpkin recipe you’d like, or store it in the freezer for later use.
Freezer Tip: To store in the freezer, spoon 2 cups of pumpkin into each plastic storage bag (this is approximately 1 can of pumpkin). Store them in the freezer until you need them.
Second time around baking the pumpkins, I did NOT cut them in half before baking!
And it worked out perfectly! You just scrap out the stuff after you cook them.
I was able to get at least 4 or 5 bags of puree' pumpkin from 1 medium size pumpkin.
I packaged them into 2 cups each into Ziploc bags and froze them for later.
I used to do my pumpkin this way but this year I did it differently. I washed the pumpkin then stuck the whole thing in the the oven for about 2 hours at 350 degrees. It is done when you can easily stick a fork in it. Let it cook completely. It cuts in half without risking cutting me in half :) It is easy to scoop out the seeds. I scooped out the pulp, ran it through the food processor and froze it the same way you did. 3 cups of pulp is the same as the large can of pumpkin puree.
ReplyDeleteI just made this last week to share on my blog! I did the same as Leanne though and baked the whole thing at once. I'm glad to see that your pumpkin looks just as yellow as mine and not nearly as orange as the canned stuff--I was afraid something was wrong! :)
ReplyDeleteYou're right--this does look easy! I'm going to have to give it a try. Thanks so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYes, I've heard of the "bake the whole pumpkin" method too! Pioneer Woman actually had that recipe on her site too. But, I like to make the pumpkin seeds into pepitas after and I just figured doing the whole pumpkin like that would be very messy and too hot to handle picking out all the seeds, so I elected to do it the original way! I assume they are both almost the same, either way you have to pick out the gunk either before you bake or after you bake?
ReplyDeletePerfect for the soup I've been craving. Nothing beats homemade and easy too. Thank you for sharing the tip.
ReplyDeleteYes, Tina, the gunk with the seed is the same either way. I baked them with all three of the pumpkins I fixed last week and noticed no difference from when I have removed them first.
ReplyDelete