Pumpkin, Four Ways

I picked up a Wan Fu pumpkin at the farmers market because it looked beautiful: dusty pink, ribbed, and squat. It's an Asian pumpkin in the butternut family, with dense, sweet, deep-orange flesh, and it turned out to be the best pumpkin I've cooked all year. I didn't waste any of it. Here's how one pumpkin became four things.

Tip before you start: the rind is tough. Microwave the whole pumpkin for 2–3 minutes or roast at 350 in the oven for 15 minutes and it will be much easier to cut. Halve it, scoop out the seeds and stringy pulp, and save both. Roast half as wedges and the other half (or a second pumpkin) whole for purée.

1. Roasted Pumpkin Wedges with Fleurish Farm Roast

Ingredients

• ½ Wan Fu pumpkin (or any dense winter squash), seeded
• 2–3 tablespoons olive oil
• Flaky or coarse salt
• 1–2 teaspoons Fleurish Farm Roast (or garlic powder, onion powder and dried parsley)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 425°F and line a sheet pan with foil.
2. Slice the pumpkin into 1-inch wedges along the ribs, leaving the skin on.
3. Shingle the wedges on the pan, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and Farm Roast.
4. Roast 30–40 minutes, until the edges caramelize and a knife slides through easily. The skin softens enough to eat on thinner pieces.

2. Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients

• Seeds from 1 pumpkin
• 1–2 teaspoons olive oil
• Salt, plus a pinch of Farm Roast if you like

Method

1. Pull the seeds from the pulp (save the pulp for the latte syrup). Rinse them and dry very well.
2. Toss with oil and salt and spread on a parchment-lined sheet pan.
3. Roast at 325°F for 15–20 minutes, stirring once, until golden and crisp.

3. Real Pumpkin Spice Latte (made with the pulp)

Most pumpkin spice lattes don't contain any pumpkin. This one uses the stringy pulp most people throw away.

Pumpkin spice syrup

• Pulp from 1 pumpkin (about ¾ cup, packed), plus a chunk of flesh if you have it
• 1 cup water
• ⅓–½ cup maple syrup or brown sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, split
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• A few whole cloves, allspice berries and cardamom pods
• Pinch of salt

1. Combine everything in a small saucepan and simmer gently for 15–20 minutes, until the pulp is soft and the liquid is golden.
2. Remove the vanilla pod and whole spices, then blend until smooth.
3. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing on the solids. Keeps about a week in the fridge.

For one latte: Stir 2–3 tablespoons of syrup into 1–2 shots of espresso (or ½ cup strong coffee). Top with about ¾ cup steamed, frothed milk and finish with a dusting of cinnamon.

4. Whole-Roasted Pumpkin Purée (for Thanksgiving pie)

Ingredients

• 1 whole Wan Fu pumpkin (or the remaining half)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Wrap the pumpkin loosely in foil and set it on a sheet pan.
2. Roast until it is deeply bronzed and slumps when pressed. That's about 1 to 1½ hours for a whole pumpkin, less for a half.
3. Cool, then scoop the flesh away from the skin and seeds and blend until silky.
4. Refrigerate up to 5 days or freeze for Thanksgiving. Roasted purée has more flavor than canned, so it makes a richer pumpkin pie. That recipe is coming soon.