Brielle's Avalon

OK, not the brains. Those are the slimy, stringy bits with seeds that the uninitiated think makes pumpkin pie. This is the body of the pumpkin, the hard stuff that is what we usually carve into Jack O’Lanterns or other arts things after scooping out the brains. If you want to roast the seeds I just did a post on that, too. Yummy. You should do that, too. Pro tip: separating the seeds from the brains is something to occupy the children or men (OK, you can classify them as children for this) and keep them out from under foot while you deal with the real business of cutting and roasting the pumpkin and other stuff.

So now that the children are dealing with the seeds, in another room preferably, you can get down to the business of butchering the rest of the pumpkin. Cut the monster in half and scrape out the brains with a spoon. OK, you’ve already done that and the annoying others are doing something you probably don’t want to know about with the brains in another room. The seeds might or might not get separated for baking but at least they’re not in there with you and the knife.

Now quarter it

If the half is hard to compleatly cut with a knife just pull it apart by hand.

Then it’s easy to cut off or break off the rest of the stem.

Lightly grease a rimmed cookie pan with olive oil, butter, spray something or whatever’s handy and bake at 350 for 1-2 hours. If the playful scary hoard in the other room has done their job you can bake the seeds at the same time…but only leave those in for 15 or 20 minutes.

Toss the scraps to the chickens. Apparently they were less interested in the seed-free brains.

When you can poke ’em with a fork they’re done.

Now they’re easier to cut into strips that are easier to peel.

But if you had cut them into strips earlier there would have been more surface area in contact with the baking pan that would caramelize…oh well…next time…

One way or the other, after they’re baked they’re easier to peel.

Leave the peels on the baking tray for the compost and any scraps you trim off for whatever reason (some are tough and leathery that weren’t in contact with the tray). While you’re at it cut the strips into smaller pieces so they’re easier to puree.

Now for mashing. You can try potato mashers. There were 2 similar ones of this type but I can’t find the other photo! Some might not work so well…

As others…

But the whizzie thing from under the counter worked best.

Don’t fill it too full or you’ll get puree at the bottom and chunks on top, so smaller batches really will speed things up.

As you make puree pour/scrape it into a bowl.

Every time you get 2 cups worth put them in a container to use for pies or whatever later. It seems that 2c is the usual amount to use for pies.

When you get enough for a couple pies and/or you get tired of whizzing it up put the rest of the chunks in a tub (see picture above) because the big bowl of chunks will seem to be neverending.

Anything that doesn’t fit in the tub (look for stuff that’s not as baked as the rest) can go to the chickens. They’ll like it. Really. You really don’t want a picture of the compost. It’s just boring, trust me.

Tuck the tubs into the freezer until you have time to make pies, cookies, muffins, pumpkin bread, soup or whatever. Have fun making stuff this holiday season!