The end of September can mean one thing – Pumpkin season! Even if you don’t fancy pumpkin now, I highly recommend to prepare the pumpkin purée and freeze it for later. Roasted pumpkin purée is an amazing base for many tasty recipes. You can use it to make delicious soup, coffee, pancakes or cakes. And as another advantage, it is super healthy! High in fibre, low in calories and rich in vitamins (especially vitamin A and C).

How to choose the right pumpkin for your purée?

Smaller pumpkins are generally better for cooking (usually called as sugar or pie pumpkins). Pay attention to any discolouration, signs of mould or large spots. Pick pumpkin that still have the stem attached. Do not choose very large pumpkins as they are mainly intended for decoration and won’t taste good in your purée.

Pumpkin purée is very easy to prepare. All you need is about an hour of your time, good knife and food processor or blender. I always freeze at least a few portions of this puree during autumn to enjoy its taste over the winter.

I always weigh a specific amount of purée (usually 100g and 250g portions) and freeze it in zip-seal bags. Then when it is time to use it, I know exactly how many bags of puree I need to defrost to make my favourite pumpkin soup or cake.

Happy cooking guys!

Roasted Pumpkin Purée

Difficulty: Easy

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Ingredients

2 medium sized cooking pumpkins

Directions

Preheat oven to 180⁰C.
Rise pumpkins and cut each into 8 pieces. Firstly, cut it in half, remove the stem, then cut halves into four.
Remove seeds.
Line the baking tray with baking paper.
Put all pumpkin pieces on the baking tray skin side down.
Roast for 35-40 minutes until flesh is soft.
Once it is ready, remove from the oven and let it cool down slightly.
Separate the flesh from the peel.
Put flesh into food processor or large bowl and blend until smooth.
Use it straight away or freeze in smaller portions in zip-seal bags.

Notes

Pumpkin puree is ready to use straight away. You can use it to make soup, coffee, pancakes, cake etc.
Remaining amount of puree keep in the refrigerator and use within 3 days.
You can easily freeze puree in smaller portions in zip-seal bags and use within 3 months. To defrost, put it in the refrigerator overnight. If defrosted puree is too watery, put it on the strainer to get rid of water.

Did you make this recipe?

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