Pumpkin and other winter squash love Sumac

My local supermarket

I recently discovered that I like these vegetables. I did not dislike them before, I just did not know what to do with them. I asked my vegetarian friend about acorn squash and how to cook it.   

USAGE FARMS PUMPKIN PARK in Morgan Hill

 















Her reply was simple, " just stuff it with rice and bake it!" Well, perhaps today it will be enough for my imagination to run wild in the kitchen but when I was just starting to cook 15 years ago it was not. It came out edible but lacking potential or flavor. So my return to winter squash had waited for about 10 years or so, until my poking around with pumpkins and spaghetti squash. I love pumpkins and do not believe that they are limited to pie filling. There is so much more you can do!
 I noticed that a lot of pumpkin recipes may be substituted with any other winter squash. Some squash are sweeter then others and that sweetness does need to be taken into consideration.  Some pumpkins are sweet enough to be used in place of sweet potato or yams.
Naturally, I looked on the net and read lots of things about the pumpkin and other squash looked for various recipes. That is what gives me inspiration to try different spice combinations and cooking methods. In my experiments I concluded that sumac is perfect for winter squash. I love sumac! Sumac and Pumpkin is match made in heaven.

Roasted Pumpkin with Sumac
This would probably be the simplest recipe you can try. Butter generously the roasting pan and in it place cut up to about 1,5 inch chunks pumpkin pieces. Top with brown sugar and Sumac. Add some butter sliced up thinly over the chunks. Roasting pan can be covered with foil for half the cooking time and uncovered at the end. The foil keeps the moisture and cooks the pumpkin through. It is ready when the knife penetrates the cooked vegetable easily.
My other simple dish with sumac calls for slicing a pumpkin or a winter squash or your choice.



Pumpkin (or butternut squash) Gratin
In a well buttered square baking dish layer sliced pumpkin, overlapping slices like roof tiles. Combine and mix well 1 egg and 1 cup of milk (cream or half and half can be used, too). Over layered out pumpkin slices add salt and pepper and about 1 tsp each of sumac and brown sugar evenly. Bake covered at 350F till knife test indicates readiness. Then top off with your favorite grated cheese and bake 5 min more or until cheese melts. I love the grated Mexican cheese mix and use it all the time. This dish was no exception. Instead of sumac and sugar , thyme and garlic powder can be used, and cinnamon can also be experimented with.
 

Rice with Pumpkin #1

 Another way of using pumpkin or squash is as one of ingredients in larger dish. Here I got several examples of rice dishes with pumpkin. In the first picture is 1 onion and 1 garlic clove chopped and sauteed in oil with chopped pumpkin pieces added to the saute pan next. 1/2 tsp turmeric, and and 1 cup of rice. Add stock or water to the vegetable and rice in proportions according to instructions on the rice container it came in. This can be made into risotto if arborio rice is used.  Optional items are 1/2 c each of roasted pepitas(pumpkin seeds) and raisins as I have here. 1 tsp of Sumac is also added here at the end. Turmeric gives this dish a really yellow color. Few strands of saffron can be dissolved in water and added instead. Sumac again is used here, it really adds a lot of kick with its tart flavor. These rice recipes can be used as stuffing for turkey or other fowl as I did no the next recipe one Thanksgiving.
  A little more ingredients went in to this recipe.


Rice with Pumpkin #2

 Rice with Pumpkin #2
1 chopped onion
2 shredded carrots
1-2 sliced celery ribs
1 small container of mushrooms sliced
1 small-medium pumpkin cut up
1-2 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 -1 cup goji berries
1/2 -1cup sliced or chopped almonds
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp allspice
1tsp sumac
salt and pepper
1/2 c almonds (optional)
Saute mirepoix, garlic and mushrooms add pumpkin, season. All spices but sumac added then together with rice. Saute together for a couple of minutes and add liquid per rice container direction. Stock can be used.
Sumac added in the last few minutes of cooking.

Rice with Pumpkin and sausage
Really similar to the recipe #2 but instead of vegetables there is chicken sausage. Only onion and much more garlic is used here and more cumin added.

Really variations on the same theme.

Last dish I made just this week. This time I used butternut squash and spice for fish. Really,  it worked out great. You maybe familiar with it, I used on salmon all the time. It is brainless time saver, that always comes out delicious.  I used Salmon Rub with Love. On the container it lists ingredients: thyme, black pepper, kosher salt, brown sugar and paprika.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Onion

1/2 sliced and pealed butternut squash

1/2 large onion

1 tbl sp rub

2 tbl sp  butter.

Slice and arrange on the buttered dish alternating onion and squash. Sprinkle rub mix over the vegetables, add chunks of butter over it. Cover and bake. May remove foil cover in last 5 min. I checked with knife for readiness

Probably my favorite recipe with pumpkin I made one of the Thanksgivings that I hosted. I shall write about in a separate post.
Enjoy!