CBC Radio calling - Pumpkins

As discussed on the radio today, here are the links to the winning pie recipes at the Pilger Pumpkin Festival. Take note, however, the winning pie makers added their own special "tweeks" to these recipes:

Winning pumpkin pie
Second place pumpkin pie

Here are links to my favourite pumpkin recipes on this blog:

Pumpkin Gnocci
Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Ravioli
My husband and I ordered pumpkin-filled pasta in a rustic restaurant in Italy. It was quite heavy on the cinnamon, which I have toned down for this version.

Cut the flesh off a pumpkin, wrap in tinfoil and bake until soft. Mash the soft pumpkin and measure 2 cups. Place in a sieve to drain excess liquid. Mix the pumpkin with 1 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, a few grinds of pepper and salt to taste. Whip an egg with a fork and blend into the pumpkin mixture. Use this mixture in ravioli or other stuffed pasta.

To serve, I made a sauce of melted butter sautéed with plenty of fresh chopped sage, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. I recently had pumpkin tortellini with mushroom cream sauce in a restaurant which was also a very good flavour combination.

Thank You Rosthern Elementary

Thank you to Grade 3-5 students at Rosthern Elementary School for inviting me to talk to their class about Saskatchewan foods. They presented me with this gift basket and a beautiful handmade card. You can bet these vegetables are going to be turned into something special, so stay tuned for the results!

Frist things first, I roasted the pumpkin and made savoury pumpkin gnocchi. Then the carrots and potatoes went into a venison stew. I'm still mulling over what to do with the acron squash. Any suggestions?

Newspaper Column - PUMPKIN MUFFINS

This column appeared in today's Star Phoenix.

There are many things you can do with a pumpkin: carve it, bake it, toss it, catapult it and, when it’s very big, plop it onto a scale and weigh it. If you attend the Pilger Pumpkin Festival, you can do them all.
Following my taste buds, I went to Pilger (just north of Humboldt) in late September on the promise of some good down-home pumpkin pie, preferably made with Pilger’s pumpkins. My Grandma O’Hara made fabulous pumpkin pie, which I miss this time of year. Perhaps it’s not so much the pie I miss, as the family gathering on a crisp fall day, grandma in her floured apron, wonderful smells emanating from the kitchen.

As is the case in so many families, grandma passed away before I took an interest in making pies, so she wasn’t there to teach me. Fortunately, my mother-in-law Alma was no mean pie maker herself. Alma’s mother ran a little cafe in Harvard, Illinois, where her pies were a specialty. A young fellow named Jack was a regular at the cafe, where he fell in love with the pies and the pie-maker’s daughter.

Since my husband John was the result of this pie alliance, I thought he would enjoy attending the Pilger Pumpkin Festival, too. Upon arriving, we made a beeline for the pie. With the $10 entrance fee, it’s all-you-can-eat, so I sampled more than one or two. With pie in hand, we checked out the other festivities.

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The Pilger Pumpkin Growers (a club started by local seniors) produce hundreds of pumpkins for the festival, from a few pounds to a few hundred pounds. The bigger the better. During the weigh-in, three burly men are required to carry each pumpkin to the scale. The Pilger record is 417 pounds, held by festival organizer Felix Fischer. “The festival is truly a family affair,” he tells me. “We made the prize money for the junior class way bigger than the senior class. ($150 vs. $100) This is starting to get around.”

In addition to the giant pumpkin competition, there is a pumpkin carving competition, pumpkin decorating competition (a popular theme is Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage), pumpkin shot put competition (where the smaller pumpkins come in handy), a giant pumpkin catapult and, the culinary apogee, the pumpkin pie contest.

I was curious to ascertain if the winning pies were made with store-bought canned pumpkin or with home-grown Pilger pumpkin. The answer is both.
First prize winner, Colette Hauser, employed canned pumpkin for her entry, which holds the record as the winningest pie in Pilger: her daughter and son also won first in the past with this pie.

They found the recipe on the internet but, she assures me, they have their own special twist which, like a true competitor, she refused to divulge. Second prize winner, Louella Bregenser made her pie with Pilger pumpkin grown by her daughter-in-law, which she chopped and canned herself.

“I like the idea using your own pumpkin,” she says, but concedes it does take some experience to produce pumpkin pulp that isn’t stringy and watery when cooked down. “Raw canned pumpkin is a good alternative,” she says. Yes indeed, I am quite sure my grandma didn’t chop and boil pumpkin for her pies either. I’m not sure I tasted a pumpkin pie as good as grandma’s at the Pilger Pumpkin Festival, but then, nostalgia might be my secret ingredient. Since pie is a bit tricky, I’m including the recipe for my favourite pumpkin muffins.

Pumpkin Muffins
1/2 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup pumpkin purée
2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger

Heat oven to 375°F. Cream together butter and sugar; add eggs and mix well. Mix baking soda into pumpkin purée. Sift together remaining ingredients.
Blend half the flour mixture into the butter, then half the purée. Repeat with the remainder, stirring just enough to blend the ingredients. Spoon the batter into muffin tins (if it isn’t a stick-free pan, line with paper or silicone cups). Bake 20-25 min., until the top is firm.

I'm on my way to Pilger

I'm following my tasebuds to the Pilger Pumpkin Festival on Sept. 26. I'm not drawn so much by the giant pumpkins (although they are fascinating) but for the pumpkin pie. Okay, I am also drawn by the pumpkin shot put contest. The fun gets underway at 3 pm. Here's a great slide show of festivals past: slide show.

CBC Radio Calling - PUMPKIN GNOCCHI

I confess, I didn't carve pumpkins for Halloween -- I drew faces on them with a black marker. Partly because I'm lazy, but mostly because I wanted to save them for eating. My husband isn't a great fan of pumpkin pie so I've had to find a few other good uses for used pumpkin.

First, I quarted the pumpkins, scraped out the seeds and roasted them in the oven at 350F for about one hour and 15 minutes.

I tried a few recipes, such as a Pumpkin Chocolate Cake (recipe) and Maple Pumpkin Mousse (recipe). But my favourite isn't dessert at all - it's Pumpkin Gnocchi.

Pumpkin Gnocchi with Sage Butter Sauce
3 cups puréed pumpkin
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
pepper
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled
Several fresh sage leaves (about 10)
Parmesan cheese for serving

In a bowl, mix the pumpkin and egg. Stir in the flour, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Knead briefly on the counter to incorporate all the flour. Wrap in plastic and place in the freezer for 30 min. (If you want to rest the dough longer than 30 min, place it in the refrigerator.)

Bring a pot of water to boil.

Using a teaspoon, scoop up a ball of dough, roll it off the teaspoon with your fingers and drop it into the boiling water. You must dip the teaspoon in a glass of cold water between each scoop to prevent sticking. When the gnocchi float to the surface, scoop them out of the boiling water with a slotted spoon. Reserve in a serving bowl. Working in batches, cook the gnocchi until the dough is used up.

Meanwhile, melt the butter, oil, garlic and sage. Before serving, remove the garlic. Pour the butter mixture over the gnocchi and toss lightly to coat. Serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese.