Pumpkin Fest

I opened up our second pumpkin and got busy in the kitchen. Here are three more pumpkin recipes for you lovely people. The pumpkin has all been used now, so there will be some non-pumpkin recipes coming up soon. All of the recipes below use pre-baked pumpkin. The reason for this is pumpkin contains a lot of water and baking it causes some of the water to evaporate, thus giving a stronger flavour. To bake pumpkin pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius/Gas Mark 3. Cut the top off the pumpkin and scrape out the guts and seeds with a spoon. Reserve the seeds to make roasted pumpkin seeds, if you wish. Cut the pumpkin into quarters, place in oven and bake for one hour.

Savoury Pumpkin Pasties
Makes four pasties.

I made double the quantity of filling shown below and used the leftovers to make a vegetable stew.

Ingredients:
Pastry:
500g wholemeal flour
250g vegan margarine (I used Pure spread)
Cold water

Filling:
1tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped

200g baked pumpkin, cut into small cubes

100g potato, cut into small cubes

100g sweet potato, cut into small cubes

3/8 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp sage
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Salt and pepper, as much as you like

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4

Rub the margarine into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the water gradually, until the pastry works together into a ball without being sticky. Put aside in a cool place.

Fry the onions in the oil over a medium heat for five minutes. Take off the heat and add the rest of the ingredients

Roll the pastry out to a thickness of around 5mm. Using a plate as a template, cut out four 20cm circles. Place a quarter of the filling on one half of each pastry circle. Brush the pastry edges with water, fold the other half of the pastry over the filling to form a half-moon shape and crimp well to seal.

Bake for 1 hour.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing
Makes 12 cupcakes

This is a recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. I halved the recipe listed below to make six cupcakes instead of 12.

Cupcake ingredients:
1 cup canned pumpkin (I substituted homemade pumpkin puree see this post for recipe)
1/3 cup oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup soy milk (I used rice milk instead)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose/plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips (the Silver Spoon ones are vegan)

Cinnamon icing ingredients:
1/2 cup confectioners'/icing sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp vegan margarine, melted
1 tablespoon soy milk (or other plant milk)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

In a medium bowl stir together pumpkin, oil, sugar, plant milk and vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir together with a fork - don't use a handheld mixer, as it will make the batter gummy. Once well combined, fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill liners two-thirds full. Bake for 22-24 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let fully cool before icing.

Icing directions:
Place sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add the margarine, plant milk and vanilla and stir with a fork until smooth. Keep at room temperature until ready to use. Spread or pipe onto cool cupcakes.


Pumpkin Soup

Here's a bowl served with croutons and roasted pumpkin seeds.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
400g baked pumpkin, cubed or pureed
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cinnamon
500ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Fry the onion in the oil over a medium heat for five minutes. Add the garlic and fry for a further two minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and heat through. Puree the soup. Heat the soup through again before serving.