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Cooking a Jack-o'-Lantern to Create Pumpkin Puree

I used to think that decorative Halloween pumpkins were not fit to eat. While they won't stand up to center stage in a pie like a Cinderella or Long Island Cheese pumpkin, they are good in soups and baked goods such as pumpkin bread or muffins. Roast the seeds with some spices and salt for a great snack or garnish.

Try getting three smaller pumpkins instead of one giant one. The small ones have thinner skins and are much easier to wash and to cut up. It's also fun having more than one pumpkin since you can carve them so they seem to interact.

The photo shows a set I carved a few years ago that is unfortunately more timely than ever: Squeezing the Middle Class.

Active time: about 30 minutes. Total time: about 1 hour. Times and yield depend on the size of the pumpkin (see notes below) and do not include any jack-o'-lantern artistry.

Ingredients

1 pumpkin
2 cups water

Method

1. Wash your pumpkin with mild detergent before carving it, so you don't spread any pesticides or bacteria from the skin to the inside.
2. Scrape out the seeds and stringy fibers as you would ordinarily, but keep the seeds to roast. Refrigerate any pieces cut out, such as those for the the mouth and eyes. Compost the remaining goop.
3. Carve your pumpkin and display. I set mine on upside-down plant containers so that they are off the ground and a little away from any creepy crawlies. This also helps the smaller pumpkins look bigger.
   
4. The next day, throw away the candle you used to light your pumpkin. Scrape out any dripped wax and burnt parts. Then cut your pumpkin into pieces that are roughly 3" by 3". Put them in a big pot with about 2 cups of water. Cover pot, bring the water to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat so you can just hear the water boiling. Steam pumpkin until it's easy to poke a fork through the flesh, about 30 minutes.
5. Drain pumpkin and let it cool enough to handle. Cut off skin with paring knife. Process in a food processor fitted with a blade or in a blender until smooth.
6. Use in recipes for breads and soups right away, such as Halloween Pumpkin Soup. Refrigerate or freeze any extra.

Tips and notes

• The pumpkin I bought for five dollars yielded 9 cups of pumpkin puree and 1 1/2 cups of roasted seeds. The pumpkin was about the size of a basketball and weighed 11.5 pounds.
• You can also rub pumpkin pieces with oil and roast them if you have the oven going anyway. Cook for about 40 minutes at 400 degrees, until fork tender.