P
Dorset
L E N T Y
The Vita Ingredi ent:
Pumpkin and Squash
With Halloween nearly upon us, Tom East is making the most of his
squash box in sweet and savoury dishes.
W
8
Pumpkin, bean and
kale stew
(Serves 6)
Ingredients
alk into any supermarket this month and you’ll be met by
the seasonal sight of mounds of glorious orange pumpkins,
ready to be sculpted into freakish faces. It’s estimated that
around 10 million pumpkins are grown in the UK, a
staggering 95% of which are used specifically for carving, but what
about the other 5%, where are they?
Well, you’re unlikely to find a sweet Rouge Vif d’Etampes, a beautiful
silvery blue Crown Prince or a Spaghetti Squash in most shops, but if
you get a culinary variety in your veg box (you can get squash boxes) or
snap one up from a farmer’s market, you’re in for a treat. If not, there’s
always the reliable Butternut Squash.
They’re all varieties of the winter squash family, of which the
pumpkin is a member. Winter squashes are grown all over the world,
but they are, in fact, native to North America – the oldest evidence of
pumpkin-related seeds were found in Mexico. Today, thousands of years
later, those seeds are toasted with spices for the Mexican bar snack,
Pepitas (in Mexican Spanish ‘pepita’ means ‘little seed of squash’), or
made into a sauce for a Yucatan chicken dish.
It’s further north in the USA where pumpkin is really celebrated
though. Pumpkin pie is one of the stars of a Thanksgiving dinner, and
although American cooks tend to use tinned pumpkin, it’s arguably
better with the fresh stuff, even if it is a little less sweet.
Pumpkin is great in sweet or savoury dishes, or even those that
are a bit of both. Take a Moroccan tagine, for example – a vegetarian
pumpkin version can be flavoured with exotic spices such as cinnamon,
nutmeg and saffron, and sweetened with a little bit of honey. Meanwhile,
Italians pair sweet pumpkin with savoury sage in a risotto or ravioli, and
it’s also good in a Thai red curry.
Like courgettes (another member of the squash family), pumpkin
works well in cakes, while pumpkin halwa is a popular Indian sweet
dish. Or you could simply carve up your pumpkin into wedges, drizzle
with olive oil, season with salt, pepper, sprinkle with chilli flakes and
bake it in the oven – it goes great alongside your Sunday roast, or eaten
straight from the oven like a half-time orange.
700g pumpkin or squash, cut into
smallish cubes
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 red chilli, finely chopped
2 tsp paprika
1 litre vegetable stock
400g tin of black beans, drained and rinsed
150g sweetcorn (either frozen or cut from
two cobs)
200g kale
Handful of oregano leaves, chopped
Salt and pepper
Method
1) Heat the olive oil in a large pan and fry the onion
for five minutes. Add the garlic and chilli and stir
around for one minute. Then add the paprika and
cook for another minute, stirring continuously to
ensure it doesn’t burn.
2) Add the stock, squash and black beans and
simmer for 10 minutes, or until the squash is
just tender.
3) Add the sweetcorn and the kale, pushing the
leaves down into the stew. You may want to do
this a handful at a time. Finally, stir in the oregano,
season with plenty of salt and pepper, and serve in
pasta bowls with good bread.
Smashing Pumpkins
Most pumpkins you see in the supermarket are only suitable for carving
jack-o’-lanterns, but these squashes are delicious.
Spaghetti Squash
When cooked, scrape out the flesh
of this squash and it comes away
in spaghetti-like strands. You can
even cover it with tomato sauce.
Crown Prince
This pumpkin, with its silvery
blue skin and orange flesh, looks
great. Even better when it’s cut into
wedges and roasted.
Kabocha
Also known as Japanese squash, it
is often used in vegetable tempura.
The sweet flesh is also fabulous
when roasted.
www.menu-dorset.co.uk
Red Kuri
The great thing about pumpkins is
they keep. This Red Kuri should be
harvested from August to October,
but can be stored for a lot longer.