Roast a Pumpkin, Make Rachael Happy

Roasting a pumpkin is perhaps one of the easiest culinary feats you will ever perform. However, the rewards of having at your disposal tasty, fresh, non-canned pumpkin puree are vast and enduring.

Here’s how it goes. Take a sugar pie pumpkin (not a jack-o-lantern pumpkin, they are watery and less flavorful), break off the stem and hack it into two pieces. Scoop out the seeds and put the two halves face down on a baking sheet. Bake it in a 375 F oven for about an hour, until the pumpkins are very soft and start to ooze a little bit (it’s appetizing, not gross, we promise). Let them sit until cool enough to handle, then scoop out the innards and puree in the food processor or pass through a food mill or sieve. Done.

This post has no recipe. That will come (Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Ice Cream, Pumpkin Pancakes--whatever you want). For now, we just want you to get used to the idea of roasting your own pumpkin. Mull it over. Please, for us.