Thursday, November 5, 2009

Homemade Pumpkin Puree How-To

It's November y'all! Some people would think that pumpkin season is over and I completely disagree! I think eating pumpkin year round is a wonderful thing and perfectly acceptable in my book.

You can of course make any pumpkin recipe with canned pumpkin but why not make your own. It's so simple. Besides I had to do something with my withering pumpkin. We picked pumpkins a couple weeks ago but for some reason one of them had a soft spot on top that was growing larger by the day. I could continue to let it spoil then toss it or I could roast it and make pumpkin puree. I chose the latter of the two. Really I had no choice. Have you ever smelled rotting pumpkin? It's beyond foul.

1). Wash your pumpkin in the kitchen sink with a veggie brush and a little detergent then dry it. See the mushy spot?

2). Cut your pumpkin in half and remove the seeds and scrape out the stringy bits with a large spoon. Looks like butt cheeks. hee hee :-)

3). Cut the pumpkin into quarters, then into eights. Cut off any mushy spots if you have any.

4). Place cleaned out pumpkin pieces face down on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

5). Roast pumpkin in a preheated 400 degree oven til soft. This will depend on how big/thick your pumpkin is. I checked on my pumpkin every 30 minutes and took it out of the oven after 90 minutes.

6). Allow pumpkin to cool slightly so that you can handle it without burning your hands. Peel the leathery skin off the pumpkin flesh and chop into manageable pieces.

7). Place golden chunks of pumpkin in food processor.

8). Process the pumpkin in batches til creamy and lump free.

9). Use in your favorite recipes or freeze.

Need a pumpkin recipe? Try one of these:

21 comments:

Cathy said...

Oh thank you.. I have been wanting to do this but just have never looked up how. Thank you again.

Denise said...

I have 6 pumpkins on my front stairs and they are almost ready for this, lol

Anonymous said...

You rock! For some ridiculous reason I was thinking of boiling pumpkin to make puree (since that is how I make my baby food) but this is a much better idea :)

Donna-FFW said...

Beautiful tutorial. Cute butt cheeks. Love the pumpkin round up of your recipes at the end.

cookies and cups said...

oh monica, you make it look so easy ;)

vanillasugarblog said...

I just did this with butternut squash. Pumpkin empanadas? That sounds good.
You know how they make butternut squash gnocchi? I wonder if you could try pumpkin?

Katie said...

I can't get enough of pumpkin this year. Your pictures of it roasting look so good!

A New England Girl said...

Yummm! Thank you for sharing this. I want to scoop up a couple of sugar pumpkins for this exact purpose. Thank you!! :)

Smitten Sugar said...

You are awesome! Looks like we will be seeing some pumpkin recipes here coming up! Cant wait!

Foodiewife said...

Wonderful! We made our exactly the same way. Did you freeze it? Whatchya making? Sweet? Savory? Inquiring minds want to know...

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Butt cheeks? I hadn't seen it until you pointed it out. Not a good visual! LOL! Thanks, Monica.

Happy Friday's Eve!
~ingrid

Debbie said...

Thanks for posting this...great tip!

Hennifer said...

I so love pumpkin! I bought 3 cans because I keep hearing something about a pumpkin shortage?

Trying your pumpkin empanadas is high on my list of things to do with the pumpkin this year!

unconfidentialcook said...

Who knew? Not I. Thanks for the step-by-step!

tamilyn said...

I seriously just stuck three pumpkins in the oven 25 minutes ago. Someone at work requested a pumpkin roll cake that was in a magazine I was looking at at work and now can't find said magazine. Will be using your recipe!

OvenDelights said...

Thank you for the info! My son brought a pumpkin home from school for Halloween. I didn't let him carve it. I explained that it would be a waste of food and I would rather make pies or cake with it. I'm so glad he understood that. I was'nt sure with the cooking process but this helps. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

very interesting, i live in Australia now, originally from ireland and here they use pumpkin all year round, one of the best ways is they roast it and put in on pizza, with other veggies.

Peggy Clyde said...

Those pumpkin rolls look wonderful. Can't wait to try them.

Miranda said...

Always wondered how that was done. Seems easy enough.

Thanks for sharing!

Amanda said...

I did mine in my pressure cooker this year. Yielded 18 cups from 6 sugar pumpkins, not too bad :)

OvenDelights said...

I do'nt know what I did wrong! I baked my pumpkin last week at 400 degrees for like almost 2 hours. It never got soft! I had to throw it out! I was so dissapointed,not only did I not let my son carve his pumpkin but I had to throw it out:(

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