While I could eat anything pumpkin all year round, fall and winter especially call for pumpkin recipes. Over the last years, pumpkin has become more popular around these parts, but it’s still a fairly unknown ingredient. Many people simply don’t know what to do with it. And it’s so versatile! Soups, stews, roasted, grilled, sweet, savory, drinks… The list is endless.

But… cutting and peeling a pumpkin is a tedious job. And potentially dangerous! Seriously dangerous. My knife (huge, sharp chef’s knife) often always gets stuck halfway through and as I can’t seem to move the knife in any direction, I end up ‘banging’ the pumpkin on the counter, like I was cleaving a piece of wood with an axe. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Right? Anyway, dangerous. In my mind, I already see a pumpkin flying through the kitchen. A disaster waiting to happen.

I always dreaded preparing a pumpkin. And then there it was! I can’t remember where I read it, but someone came up with this great, life saving tip. Roast that whole pumpkin in the oven for an hour or so and you can easily peal the skin away or scoop the flesh out. No way! Genius!

I literally ran to the store to buy some pumpkins. I had to try this. Oh my god, the house started to smell deliciously of pumpkin. And guess what… it worked! I could ‘crack’ the pumpkin with my hands, the skin could be peeled away easily and I could scoop out the deliciously sweet, soft flesh with a spoon. And that color! Bright orange!

All you need to do is put the pumpkin on a baking tray lined with parchment paper or tin foil and pop it in a hot oven (400 F/200 C).

After an hour or so, take it out and let it cool a bit.

Then slice it open and peel away the skin or scoop out the flesh.

Blend/puree the flesh and use as you see fit :).

How much puree you will get out of this, obviously depends on the size of the pumpkin. I usually use Golden Nugget pumpkins and these render ca. 400-800g (2-4C) of pumpkin puree.

I don’t know how many pumpkins I’ve roasted, but my freezer is filled with ready-to-use pumpkin puree! Although I can’t vouch for it, as we can’t get canned pumpkin puree around here, but I’m sure this homemade pumpkin puree is way tastier than the canned stuff.

Enjoy!

Tip: pumpkin puree is delicious in a pasta sauce or in these Pumpkin Banana Blondies!