Nowhere are fall’s colors prettier, than in this season’s food. We may not have the leaves to enjoy at home, but we are rich in pumpkin, colorful squashes and the deep shades of wintergreens that are proliferating now. Pretty enough for table settings and decorations, gourds, pumpkins and squash embellish our homes throughout October, spiking at Halloween and carrying on into Thanksgiving.
When the French and Spanish inhabited Louisiana, they likely got their pumpkins from the local Indians. Pumpkins are easy to grow and their large size provides lots of nutritious food. Actually, pumpkins are a squash and not a fruit; they taste great and they can be prepared in many ways. However, pumpkin was not new to our settlers. The big orange globe grows equally well in the soils of France, Spain and many other countries around the world. In early New Orleans, cooks baked them in pies called tarte de citrouille, laced with brandy. They also served pumpkin as a vegetable side dish at dinner – a little cinnamon here, a pinch of nutmeg there, and pumpkin morphs into the perfect accompaniment to lamb, pork, fowl or beef.
In recent years, American cooks have focused on the pumpkin pie, and not for any small reason. The pie is delicious and is a natural for Thanksgiving. However, despite the wealth of pumpkin available, we may be losing out on the full range of uses that pumpkin could play in healthful diets. Pumpkins are rich in vitamin A and potassium, and are high in fiber. Better yet, they are low in calories and devoid of fat.
Creative New Orleans chefs have discovered pumpkin soup. Combined with chicken stock, cream and seasonings of choice, it makes a hearty first course that can be glorified with crabmeat or shrimp. Some versions are a ringer for butternut squash soup, because of similar textures and tastes; it also tastes similar to some carrot soups I’ve had. All three are a beautiful color, especially in a china soup bowl or large tureen. In the case of pumpkin, some cooks like to serve the soup right out of the hollowed-out pumpkin itself.
One of my fondest mother-daughter memories was cutting up the Halloween jack-o-lanterns, boiling the meat and mixing up a vat of ingredients for multiple pies. After all had been put through a blender, we’d pour the correct amount for single pies into freezer containers and stack them in our freezers. Whenever the occasion called for a quick dessert, it was just a matter of thawing a pie or two, pouring them into store-bought shells and baking them for an hour. A can of real whipped cream decorated individual pieces deliciously when ready to serve.
Another handy use for pumpkin is baking it into small loaves of nutty pumpkin bread, just right for take-a-longs to holiday parties or little gifts to friends. Make multiple batches and stack them in the freezer, too.
You’ll find pumpkins piled high on the floor at grocery stores, but don’t pass up the roadside trucks and stands, many of them south of New Orleans. They’re a regular crop for Louisiana farmers, some bright orange and others a lighter color. I’ve cooked both, and find they all work well in recipes. Also, despite warnings by some nutritionists, I always light the pumpkin on Halloween night and clean it up good for cooking the next day. No one has complained yet.
4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalIngredients
- Pumpkin Soup
4 tbsp. Butter
1 Large onion
2 ribs Celery, chopped
2 Garlic cloves, minced
1/4 lb. Andouille sausage, chopped
3 14 oz. cans Chicken stock or equivalent homemade
5 cups Pureed pumpkin, cooked fresh or canned
1 Large potato, peeled and cubed in half-inch pieces
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/8 tsp. Allspice
1/4 tsp. Dried thyme leaves
1 cup Heavy cream
- Pumpkin Casserole
4 strips Bacon
1 Medium onion, chopped
4 Green onions, chopped
4 cups Pureed pumpkin, cooked fresh or canned
2 tbsp. Honey
1/2 tsp. Allspice
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
Salt and pepper
1/4 tsp. Cayenne pepper
2 Eggs, beaten
1/4 cup Hald and half
1 cup Swiss cheese, grated
1/4 cup Seasoned breadcrumbs
2 tbsp. Butter, cut into bits
- Pumpkin Nut Bread
3 cups Sugar
4 Eggs
2 cups Pureed pumpkin
3 1/3 cups Flour
2 tsp. Baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Nutmeg
1 tsp. Cinnamon
2/3 cup Water
1 cup Pecans, chopped
Directions
- Pumpkin Soup (Serves 8)
- Heat butter in large, heavy pot and sauté onion and celery until soft. Add garlic and sausage and sauté a few minutes more. Add chicken stock, pumpkin, potato, salt, pepper, nutmeg, allspice and thyme; simmer until potatoes are done.
- Puree the soup, about one cup at the time, in a blender. Adjust seasonings to your taste. When ready to serve, add heavy cream and heat. Do not boil. If you like the soup thinner, add a little more cream or milk to your liking.
- Serve in bowls with a dash of freshly grated nutmeg.
- Pumpkin Casserole (Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish)
- In a large, heavy skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Remove, drain and reserve bacon. Leave 2 tablespoons bacon grease in skillet and sauté the onions. Add pumpkin, honey and seasonings and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Mix eggs with half and half and stir into the pumpkin mixture. Top with Swiss cheese, then with breadcrumbs and dot with butter. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 45 minutes. When almost done, crumple bacon and sprinkle on top.
- Pumpkin Nut Bread (Makes two loaves or a half dozen mini-loaves)
- Mix sugar and eggs in electric mixer. Blend in pumpkin. In a separate bowl, sift together all dry ingredients and add gradually to the pumpkin mixture. Add water and blend until mixture is smooth. Stir in pecans.
- Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven in two slightly greased 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pans for about one hour, or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. Cool briefly in pans, then transfer to wire racks to cook completely.
