The first months of autumn are always associated with bright yellow and bright red leaves on trees, light rain and harvesting. The queen among vegetables is considered to be pumpkin (pumpkin English). It is not in vain that they always decorate the Thanksgiving holiday table in America, and with the help of pumpkin lanterns they scare away evil spirits in Halloween. Many fairy-tale properties are attributed to the pumpkin, and, probably, it was not just that the good fairy turned the pumpkin into a fairy carriage for Cinderella.
In Russian cuisine, pumpkin also takes pride of place - porridge is cooked with it, salads and soups are cooked, cakes are baked. You can love or dislike pumpkin, but you cannot ignore the fact that this vegetable is so rich in useful minerals, vitamins and minerals, as well as fiber so much needed by a person, that you can make a full, tasty and healthy lunch from several dishes, including ice cream . Will we try?
Pumpkin Puree Soup
Ingredients:
For 4 servings:
- 800 g pumpkin
- 1 tbsp. l olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped finely
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1.5 l of hot vegetable stock
- 1 bay leaf
- Greens, cream or sour cream to taste
Cooking method:
- Cut the pumpkin in half, peel the seeds, then cut the peel. Cut the pulp into pieces. (If you are going to serve soup in a straight pumpkin, cut off the top and scrape out the pulp and seeds from it).
- Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions and garlic for 10 minutes until soft. Add the pumpkin and cook another 3 minutes.
- Add the broth and bay leaf, bring to a boil. Cook for 20 minutes until the pumpkin is soft. Get bay leaf, beat the soup in a blender or in a food processor in portions.
- Return the soup to a clean pot, heat and check for seasoning. Add a little more broth or cream (to taste) if it is too thick. Serve sprinkled with fresh herbs and crackers.
Fragrant salad with baked pumpkin, olives and feta
Ingredients:
For 8-10 servings:
- 3 tbsp. l olive oil
- 1/2 tsp ground zira
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- Salt, pepper - to taste
- 800 g diced pumpkin
- 100 g spinach
- 150 g feta cheese
- 20 g olives
Refueling:
- 1 tbsp. l red wine vinegar
- 60 ml of oil
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
Cooking method:
- Preheat the oven to 200 ° C. Roll the pumpkin in oil and spices, mix and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until the pieces are caramelized.
- Make a dressing by mixing all the ingredients.
- Put spinach leaves on a dish. Arrange the pieces of pumpkin. Crush feta on top. Sprinkle with olives and sprinkle with dressing.
Stuffed Pumpkin
Ingredients:
- Whole round pumpkin (arbitrary size)
- 1-1.5 cups of rice
- Dried fruits: raisins, dried apricots, prunes, dates
- Sugar, salt, spices - to taste
- Butter
Cooking method:
- Soak dried fruits for 1 hour in warm water. Boil the rice until half cooked (about 5 minutes in a large amount of water), then drain and leave to cool.
- Cut the top off the pumpkin (as a “cover”), scrape the seeds (you can then dry them and eat with pleasure).
- Mix cooled rice with dried fruits (drain water), sugar, salt and spices (cinnamon is very good to taste - don’t spare it, pour it from the heart). Fill the pumpkin with the resulting mixture, layering it with pieces of butter. Cover the pumpkin with the top- "lid", place it on a greased pan or baking sheet. Bake over medium heat in the upper part of the oven for 40-60 minutes (depending on the size of the pumpkin). When serving, you can pour the dish with melted butter.
Muffins "Pumpkin Lanterns"
Ingredients:
For 6 pieces:
- 12 purchased or homemade muffins
- Oil fudge (half)
- 625 g white fondant for rolling
- Icing sugar or cornmeal
- Yellow and red food coloring (pasty)
- 1 tsp apricot jam
Cooking method:
- Cut off the top of the cupcakes so that they are flat, spread a thick oil fondant on top, and then spread a thin layer of the wall and base of the cupcakes.
- Paint 50 g of fudge in yellow and wrap in a film. The rest of the fondant is painted in orange using yellow and red dye.
- Cut the orange fondant into 5 parts and each roll thinly on a surface sprinkled with powdered sugar or cornmeal. Put in the middle of the rolled piece two stuck together cupcakes, and collect the edges of the fudge on top. Trim the excess. So cover all the cupcakes, roll out the trim to cover the last cupcake.
- Thinly roll out yellow fondant and cut out triangles for the eyes, and toothy mouths. Attach them to muffins with apricot jam. Mix the yellow trimmings with the orange trimmings and roll up a thick rope. Cut them and make pumpkin cuttings out of them. Put cupcakes on a plate or board and serve.
American pumpkin pie
Ingredients:
Into 8 pieces:
- 500 g ready puff pastry
Filling:
- 2 large egg yolks
- 300 ml cream
- 450 g canned pumpkin
- 400 g of condensed milk
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Upper layer:
- 50 g chopped walnuts or pecans,
- 85 g brown sugar
- 50 g of melted butter
To serve:
- 100 ml cream
- nutmeg
Cooking method:
- Preheat the oven to 180 ° C. Roll out the dough and place it in a round cake mold (diameter - 23 cm, depth 5 cm). Trim the edges, leaving a 2.5 cm overhang. Bend them inward so that the walls are thicker. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Pierce the dough with a fork several times. Lay with foil and fill with dry beans. Bake for 12 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven, remove foil and beans and set aside.
- Make a filling. Using an electric mixer, beat one egg and yolks into foam in a large bowl. Pour in 250 ml of cream, then add all the other ingredients for the filling, plus 1/2 tsp. salt, beat everything.
- Pour the filling into the pie and bake for 50 minutes (in the middle the filling may seem a little liquid, but this is normal). Cool the pie on the wire rack for 2 hours (at least). It may crack in the middle while it cools, but the top layer will hide it.
- Preheat grill to maximum temperature. Mix all the ingredients for the top layer and spread evenly on the surface of the cake. Cover the walls of the cake with foil so that they do not burn. Then put under the grill for 2-3 minutes at a distance of 12 cm from the heat. Remove and let cool.
- Before serving, whip all remaining cream into a soft foam. Serve whipped cream sprinkled with nutmeg.
