PUMPKIN PUREE
Pumpkin Puree
The perfect ingredient for delicious autumn recipes
Pumpkins taste amazing and it’s often the puree that is used as an ingredient. It’s easy to buy a ready-made one in a tin but why not make your own? If you make your own pumpkin puree, you can make sure what goes into it. The quality of food that we eat is really important. There are many additional additives that go into processed food which are not good for the body. They are only there to make the food last longer on the store shelves. However, the way around it is to make your own from scratch. It is very simple and it’s a beginning of a more sufficient, healthier lifestyle. Plus – it is educational for the kiddos to watch you plant, grow and prepare healthy meals.
Pumpkin pure recipe ideas
Pumpkin puree can be added to many recipes, depending on how healthy your lifestyle is. I wouldn’t consider myself a raw or a vegan enthusiast and still I find great uses for it. You can easily add it to soups, cakes, pancakes, baby food, vegetable spreads on fresh bread and even baby food! The caramelized flavour of this fresh vegetable will elevate the taste of your food for sure. And it’s incredibly easy to make if you want to invest a bit of time into your health. About an hour and half to be precise. Here is how to make your own pumpkin puree.
Don’t miss more delicious homemade recipes:
- Pumpkin Cake Recipe
- Pumpkin Soup So Easy
- Beef Stew Recipe
- Seasonal Grilled Zucchini
- Super Easy Homemade Bread
- Marinated Camembert Cheese
- Edible Flower Cookies
- NO BAKE Raspberry Cheesecake
Pumpkin Puree
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Baking Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
- a small to medium size Hokkaido pumpkin
- a tablespoon of cold-pressed olive oil
- baking tray (I LOVE using the Romertopf style clay dish!!)
Instructions
Making your own pumpkin puree couldn’t get any easier. Take a small to medium size Hokkaido pumpkin and wash it under clean running water. Then cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds in the middle into a small bowl. You can also do this after the baking, it really is up to your preference. I like to use the seeds for roasting or to save and plant for the next year so I don’t want to spoil them in the oven. However, if you don’t then feel free to leave the pumpkin half as it is.
Prepare the baking tray you usually use, I have become really fond of the clay dish. You need to soak it in water for the clay to absorb moisture which is the main difference. The moisture creates sort of a steam around your food which allows it to bake beautifully as well as retain delicious flavours. Initially I felt it was quite a hassle to soak the dish before using it, however I now cannot promote it enough! It makes amazing baked veggies, meat, desserts and also homemade bread!
Place a sheet of baking paper inside the baking tray, unless you’re using a non-sticky type tray. Place the pumpkin halves on top and add a drizzle of olive oil. Adding a pinch of salt is completely up to you, I learned to skip this step because of using the pumpkin puree for a baby food.
Place the tray in the oven (do not pre-heat if using the clay dish to avoid any temperature shocks to the clay) and bake for about 1 hour at 180 degrees of C. Keep an eye on the pumpkin throughout the baking. Towards the end you should see the skin becoming blistered and the flesh soft. The pumpkin may even colapse inwards which is completely fine.
Blending the pumpkin into a puree
After an hour take the tray out and leave the pumpkin to cool down completely. The skill should now be very easy to peel off of the pumpkin flesh. Once the halves have cooled down, peel the skin off and put the soft flesh into a bowl. You can either mash it with a fork or blend with a blender to make a puree.
Scoop the puree into a smaller dish with a lid and store in the fridge for about 5 days. Alternatively, freeze the pumpkin puree in a plastic container. I am not sure what the expiration is of frozen pumpkin puree but I personally use up any frozen food within 1-3 months.
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