Pumpkin patch: I’m sure the fact that the pumpkin and Halloween are in the same heading will not confuse you in the least. After all, a pumpkin is considered a symbol of All Saints’ Day, and orange and black are its signature colors. And yet, why a pumpkin?
Halloween is a holiday with pagan roots, which is considered the birthplace of Ireland and Scotland. Among other rituals and symbols associated with October 31, Jack-o’-lantern is particularly famous. It is carved on the root of a terrible grimace with a candle burning inside. It is believed that such a lantern scares off evil spirits on Halloween night. But in Ireland, Scotland and England they were made from turnips, potatoes and beets. Where did the pumpkin come from?
Jack’s lamplight, familiar to us, acquired at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, when emigrants from Great Britain brought their dark holiday to America. In the USA, the turnip was replaced by a pumpkin as a cheaper and more common vegetable, which was also considered a symbol of the harvest. By the turn of the century, the orange root crop became a full-fledged attribute of Halloween and the festive table.
Pumpkin is a wonderful, healthy vegetable, so we will be interested not in pumpkin-shaped muffins, but in pumpkin muffins. However, it can be used not only in baking. Pleasant sweetish taste of this vegetable can be great to beat in hot dishes and salads. How exactly – read below!
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Soup
“You won’t spoil the case with cheese,” I told myself, risking a packet of cottage cheese in a pan with pumpkin puree. The experiment was successful. Usually, cream soups are prepared with the addition of heavy cream. I wanted something new, but with the same creamy texture.
This soup is nothing but pumpkin, onion and cheese. The latter can be at least melted, at least Mascarpone (I had a soft curd, but not ricotta!). The dish turns out to be very light and as if it “warms up” you before serving the main dishes. This cream soup will be a great starter on your pumpkin-Halloween table.
Ingredients for servings
- Onion — 1 PC.
- Pumpkin — 500 g
- Cream cheese — 120 g
- Olive oil — 1 tbsp
- Spices — to taste
- Salt — to taste
Method of preparation
1. Cut Onions into half rings, pumpkin — large cubes. If frozen — not pre-thawed and cut.
2. In a saucepan with a thick bottom and fry until Golden brown onions, then to it add the pumpkin, spices and lightly fried again. Pour 1 liter of boiling water and boil until soft pumpkin (about 25 minutes).
3. Soup remove from heat, add cheese, blend with the immersion blender and return to stove. Over high heat bring the soup to a smooth texture. Add salt, stir, turn off the heat. When serving you can decorate with greens, pumpkin seeds.
Enjoy your meal!
Warm salad with pumpkin
Warm sweet pumpkin — whether it is the taste of autumn? How about onion tart, soft cheese (any brand), a handful of green spinach and crunchy accent in the form of pumpkin seeds? All together develops in a nontrivial warm salad with a hint of sophistication! Can be eaten as a separate meal or a light side dish to meat or poultry (for example, such a chicken).
Everything is prepared just as always, the main thing — not to overdo the pumpkin, so they were not too soft. The Adyghe or soft goat cheese a perfect fit with this salad, but I wouldn’t rule out cheesecake. Cheese you can fry on the grill pan (without oil!), however, this step is optional. Pumpkin seeds are easily replaced pine nuts and the oil can be olive, and pumpkin. Shall we?
Ingredients for servings
- Pumpkin — 300 g
- Soft cheese — 100 g
- Onion — 1 PC.
- Spinach — 100 g
- Olive oil — 2 tbsp
- Balsamic vinegar — 1 tbsp
- Honey — 1 Tsp
- Dijon mustard — 1 tsp.
- Spices for salad dressing — to taste
- Salt — to taste
Method of preparation
1. Pumpkin cut into thin plates of square shape (approximately). Mix 1 tbsp oil, honey, mustard and spices. To smear the sauce over the pumpkin and gently spread out on baking paper and bake in the oven at 200°C for about 20 minutes.
2. Cheese is also cut into plates and fry in a dry pan grilled. After — chop. Onion cut into half rings and drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Pine nuts or pumpkin seeds to bake on a hot pan for a few seconds (40-50).
3. On the plate first, put the spinach, then onion, pumpkin, cheese and sprinkle the top with seeds, salt and drizzle with a little olive oil.
Enjoy your meal!
Pumpkin cupcakes
The perfect end to a pumpkin party will be spicy orange cupcakes. Wet and at the same time crumbly the dough breaks up into hundreds of crumbs on your plate.
Some comments about the cooking.
- In my opinion, as a sweetener here fit is the best it, honey. You will get the light unobtrusive sweet taste (I do 2 tbsp).
- The amount of oil cannot be cut! Not that you have nothing, but promised crumbly dough did not come out. Vegetable oil use any brand, just follow the smell. Too Intrusive fragrance can ruin the cakes. I had the olive.
- Pumpkin puree can cook — pre-cook or bake a vegetable. But the fit and ready puree from the jar and, speaking quite frankly, it can be not only a pumpkin!
- Top the cupcakes you can decorate with cottage cheese (a La mascarpone or cream cheese) and berries if suddenly just cupcakes you will not be enough.
Ingredients for servings
- Pumpkin puree — 250 g
- Vegetable oil — 240 g
- Flour — 230 g
- Eggs — 3 PCs.
- Sugar/honey — to taste
- Baking powder — 1 ½ tsp
- Soda — ½ tsp
- Cinnamon — 1 tsp.
Method of preparation
1. Separate the whites from the yolks. The latter combine with sugar/honey, butter, pumpkin puree and beat well. Add soda, baking powder, spices and mix well again.
2. Then add flour, knead well rather thick dough. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites (you can manually) and gently mix in the dough.
3. Pour the future muffins into shapes and bake in the oven for about 30–45 minutes at 180 ° C. Ready-made muffins can be decorated with curd cream and berries.
Enjoy your meal!
