It’s Halloween which means pumpkins are in abundance in the supermarkets, so it’s time to get my hands on a couple of good ones to make some interesting recipes out of them. A somewhat spooky ingredient, pumpkin has some frighteningly good potential. Raw, it smells like crap, and by crap I mean dog crap! Carving these sons of bitches was much like the nightmare I didn’t want to experience this Halloween – it was scary just how smelly these things are when raw, and don’t even get me started on what scooping out the guts of said big orange stink bombs was like. Then again, kids do this very activity every Halloween, and for fun! So maybe I should’ve just gotten a tighter grip on things… especially considering just how slimy these things can be. Like I say, though, great potential, because, when cooked, magic truly conjured up from the potion I created.
For the main, I first diced up the pumpkin into small cubes and placed in the saucepan I was going to later cook them in. With the hob off, I added a knob of butter to the diced pumpkin, a dash of olive oil, along with the chopped sage and seasoning. Whilst I prepared the dessert, I regularly mixed around the pumpkin and sage on the cold hob until the butter melted down. With all that lovely butter flavoured with sage and the seasoning, the pumpkin now has a good hour or so (while I make the dessert) to marinade in those wonderful flavours, so that when I get around to cooking the pumpkin, it will browned-off beautifully.
For the dessert’s sponge, I boiled more diced pumpkin and boiled it until it couldn’t get any softer by appearance. And, I have to say, at this point the smell coming off the boiled pumpkin was actually wonderful. It was like some lovely bread and butter pudding baking in the oven – a perfectly warming, splendid scent. I then mashed up the pumpkin and added to the mixture for the sponge, which I then began to bake.
For the cake filling, I added ginger to the double cream I whisked until it was gorgeously thick. Layering the cake, I sprinkled some crushed ginger biscuits on top of each layer of cream, and crushed hazelnuts for the topping.
It’s time to cook the main course, and I was looking forward to frying off the pumpkin in this wonderful marinade. It did indeed go handsomely golden brown, a sign which invited me to add the diced onion, and then pancetta.
Adding a touch more sage to the mix, I turned off the hob (after around five further minutes of cooking) to let those flavours get to know each other whilst I prepared the tagliatelle. When the pasta was cooked through (al dente), I added it to the pumpkin and pancetta, along with some grated cheddar cheese. Served with chopped flat leaf parsley for garnish.
And remember: it's not always about exact measurements and quantities, rather it's about instinct and feel. It's all trial and error.
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