EDF Cooking Contest--Pumpkin Challenge

[Xaston]

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Random ideas so far:

lamb with pumpkin sauce and pumpkin seeds (with some chilis for heat? or would it be good with some type of balsamic base?)\

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For this chilis >>>>>>>> balsamic, imo. I just don't see pumpkin and balsamic together.

[El Diablo]

Sapo: Read my post again. Pumpkin risotto is definitely not standard fare!

BK: All of those sound great. One nice thing about pumpkin in savory dishes is you can easily take it in either a spicy or sweet direction, both work well. Of the three things, the only one I've seen a fair amount is pumpkin soup, which is generally approached exactly the same way as butternut squash soup - you can go rich, creamy, and sweet or very spicy/savory.

[ElSapo]

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Sapo: Read my post again. Pumpkin risotto is definitely not standard fare!

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Ack. Risotto on the brain. My bad. Thus ruining what I thought was a funny joke.

[ElSapo]

BK - I like the pumpkin sauce idea. Something I've always wondered: where do you draw the line between "sauce" and "soup?"

I was thinking about pumpkin seeds: maybe toast them, then grind and use them to crust a protein? I.e. pumpkin-seed crusted lamb chops with a spicy pumpkin sauce.

[BK_]

Sapo, I was thinking about that "sauce" vs "soup" idea earlier actually. I've never heard of a pumpkin sauce, but why not? Especially if you can make the soup so many different ways.

Good idea re: the pumpkin seed crust.

Diablo: Never thought about it that way exactly, but I think that it is something I will focus on for this challenge. I'd like to explore both the sweet and savory in the same dinner if possible (ideally in the same dish - not sure how realistic that is though)

[Ron Burgundy]

Went out today to Whole Foods and got a small pumpkin and a bottle of pumpkin seed oil, which I'd never seen before.

In trying to think of "flavor profiles", I came up with pumpkin + hot chili + mango + duck. Does that sound good?

I'm gonna consult my raw food books for ideas. Those hippy vegans really like pumpkin seeds.

[ElSapo]

From "Culinary Artistry," which I highly recommend anyone get...

Flavors that match well with pumpkin:

Apples, bacon, bourbon, brown sugar, butter, caramel, cinnamon, cloves, coconut, Cognac, cream, duck (including confit), garlic, ginger, Gruyere cheese, honey, leeks, mace, maple syrup, mint, molasses, mushrooms, nutmeg, nuts, olive oil, onions, pecans, pepper (black), pumpkin seeds, rum, sage, sherry, sour cream, sugar, thyme, vanilla, vinegar (especially white), walnuts, yogurt.

I don't necessarily agree with all those, but it's a great book - not about recipes but more about constructing dishes and menus with harmony.

[elwoodblues]

I'm not going to make it because I didn't particularly like it, but my Mom made pumpkin soup served inside small hollowed-out pumpkins that were nice to like at/photograph.

[El Diablo]

Chefs,

Are you guys all scurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrred?

[ElSapo]

I've ggot one dish done, but as we need an appetizer and entree I was going to post them together. So far cooking with pumpkin has been pretty interesting - it melds well with more flavors than I thought it would.

Cleaning the seeds out of the pumpkin was a pure flashback to childhood - nothing else quite feels like that.