Using up pumpkin: recipe roundup, vegan, gluten free

It’s October now so you might be considering buying and carving a pumpkin soon.  But what do you do with the leftover flesh?

For years when I was growing up it just went in the bin – I don’t ever remember cooking with it.

BUT, NO MORE!

Pumpkin is really good for you, as I outlined in my post on Marrow and Pumpkin Soup.

For a quick recap, here is the lowdown:

Healthy Food Guide October 2013

Or you could try carrot, pumpkin and coriander soup

carrot and coriander soup

But other than soup what can you make?

I had this uber-breakfast of pumpkin overnight oats and pumpkin eggs, with a dash of sriracha sauce

It kept me full for hours!

If overnight oats aren’t your thing, stir your pumpkin into your porridge.

Of course, there’s always the pumpkin smoothie if you like something lighter in the mornings

had to add a little flag

Or change up my marrow and pecan cake with pumpkin instead of marrow.

What’s your favourite way of using up pumpkin?

Marrow and pecan cake, lactose free

I bought the marrow a couple of weeks ago at the Farmers Market.  I enjoyed stuffing it, making soup and even roasting it with vanilla and cinnamon and stirring it into overnight oats – YUM!

But Ben refused to eat it, so that left me with half a marrow.  I found this recipe on BBC Good Food, and decided I had to give it a go.

marrow and pecan cake

My first instinct was ‘eurgh’!  Marrow in a cake?!?!?!

Incidentally, this was also the comment from one of my colleagues when I took it to work. (Sorry, Andy you didn’t cover it up well).  But he came round when he tasted the moist, lightly spiced sponge.  As did a number of other people in the office who commented how lovely it was – I THANK YOU ALL 🙂

When you think about it, no one thinks twice about carrot cake, or even pumpkin cake, and more and more people are coming round to the idea of courgette/zucchini cake.

This one was topped with a creamy cashew, ricotta and honey topping to contrast with the sweet cake.

I ran out of space in my loaf tin, so I made 4 accompanying cakes which I topped with a non-dairy topping of coconut butter, sunflower seed butter and icing sugar for those who can’t tolerate milk.

Marrow and Pecan cake
Makes 1 large loaf cake and 4 small cupcakes

• 250ml sunflower oil
• 300g self raising flour, gluten free if necessary
• 3 tsp mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp baking powder (gluten free)
• 250g light brown soft sugar
• 4 eggs – if you use egg replacer, let me know how it goes
• 4 tbsp orange juice
• 300g marrow flesh, skinned and coarsely grated
• 200g pecans

For the topping

• 50g ricotta cheese
• 100g cashew nuts, soaked overnight
• honey/maple syrup to taste

1. Preheat oven to 160C and prepare a loaf tin
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and mixed spice into a large bowl.  Stir in the sugar.
3. In a food processor, quickly combine the eggs, orange juice and oil.  Add the marrow and give it a quick whizz
4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and combine.  Stir in about 3/4 of the pecans, leaving whole ones for topping.
5. Pour the batter into the cake tin, use any remaining mixture to make mini cupcakes –  these will only take about 20-30 minutes to cook.
6. Bake the loaf cake for 1hour 20 minutes.
7. Leave to cool for 30 minutes in the tin before turning out
8. To make the icing, drain the cashew nuts and put in a food processor.  Blend until a thick butter forms.  Stir in the ricotta cheese, and honey or maple syrup to taste.

What is the strangest ingredient that you’ve had in a cake?

Marrow and Pumpkin Soup, gluten free, vegetarian, vegan option

I have been thinking of ways of using up my marrow that I bought from the Farmer’s market.  The first thing that jumped to mind was a stuffed marrow – but that is a lot of stuffed marrow for one Emily!

I found a recipe for a marrow cake, but had no one to help me eat it.

That left only one idea – soup!

It’s been getting a bit more autumnal here in the UK so a bit of soup was welcome!  You know what they say – “Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning”

sunrise

I’ve seen pumpkin recipes start to pop up on the blog-o-sphere so it seemed like the perfect combination.

I had an article on squashes/courgettes/marrows in my Healthy Food Guide.

Healthy Food Guide October 2013

Pumpkins are rich in carotenoids such as beta-carotene, beta-cyptoxanthin and alpha-carotene – basically vegetarian Vitamin A (sort of) which is good for maintaining a healthy immune system – perfect now the autumn sniffles are on the rise in the office.  They are also good for maintaining healthy skin and protecting against free radicals.

An interesting point raised in HFG is a research study that showed beta-carotene supplements increased the risk of lung cancer in smokers, but when packaged in real foods with other nutrients the same carotenoids protects health.

Nutritious and delicious, pumpkins and marrow are low in calories and fat but contain Vitamin A, C, E folate and potassium.

Marrow and Pumpkin Soup
Serves 1

• 100g marrow – skin removed
• 100g canned pumpkin (use fresh if it is in season)
• 40g red onion
• 60g haricot beans
• 10g nutritional yeast
• 20g babybel cheese (optional)
• garlic granules or fresh

1. Optional Step 1: grill the marrow and onion on a health food grill until soft.  If missing this step, soften in your pan.
2. Add all ingredients (except cheese) to a food processor – or blend in a pan with a stick/hand bender
3. Add water or stock to taste.
4. If using, serve with the cheese melted on top (optional)