Pumpkin

Pumpkin Curry

In a Dutch oven, sauté diced onions, red bell pepper and carrots with minced garlic, ginger, seeded Thai chiles and madras curry powder.

Add drained canned diced tomatoes, diced pumpkin, small cauliflower florets and stock. Simmer until pumpkin and cauliflower are tender. Stir in frozen peas until heated through.

Top with chopped cilantro and serve. with Greek yogurt.

Roasted Pumpkin & Candied Pepita Salad

Toss pepitas with oil, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Bake at 350°F until lightly browned.

Whisk together apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, light brown sugar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss hearty greens with roasted diced pumpkin, dried cranberries and vinaigrette. Top with crumbled goat cheese, if desired, and sprinkle with candied pepitas.

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Make your favorite vanilla ice cream base. For every 3 cups base, whisk in 1 cup pumpkin puree, 2 tsp. ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. ground ginger, 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg and 1/8 tsp. ground cloves.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Beat 4 egg whites to stiff peaks. In another bowl, mix 4 egg yolks, 3/4 cup pumpkin puree, 1 1/2 cups milk, 4 Tbs. melted butter and 1 tsp. vanilla.

In a large bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 3/4 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. ginger and 1/4 tsp. allspice. Stir in pumpkin mixture, then fold in egg whites.

Drop 1/3 cupfuls onto a skillet, cooking each side until golden.

Pumpkin Ravioli

Puree roasted pumpkin with an egg yolk, grated parmesan, grated nutmeg, salt and pepper. Roll out sheets of fresh egg pasta and fill with pumpkin mixture to form ravioli.

Brown butter in a sauté pan and stir in slivered sage leaves. Keep warm.

Gently simmer ravioli until al dente. Pour brown butter over ravioli and garnish with coarsely chopped toasted hazelnuts and shaved parmesan.

Pumpkin-Gruyère Gratin

Cut the top off a pumpkin and scoop out the seeds. Drizzle the inside with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Alternate layers of toasted French bread with grated Gruyère until about 1 inch from the top.

Combine equal parts chicken stock and cream. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour into pumpkin until it reaches the top layer of bread. Replace top and bake at 350°F for about 2 hours.

Availability

Small pumpkins start appearing in the markets in late September; larger varieties become available in October.

Selecting

Choose pumpkins that feel solid and heavy for their size. As they age, they dry out and become lighter. The skin should be hard, with no cracks, blemishes or soft spots. For cooking, seek out small, sweet varieties with a thick flesh and a fairly small seed cavity, such as the Sugar Pie, Baby Bear or Cheese pumpkin. Field pumpkins have a fibrous flesh that is not good for cooking. Reserve them for jack-o'-lanterns.

Preparing

To cut open a pumpkin, steady it on a thick towel, very carefully insert a large, heavy knife near the stem, and cut down through the curved side. Always cut away from you. Turn the pumpkin 180 degrees and repeat on the other side. A more dramatic, messier method is simply to drop the pumpkin onto newspapers spread on a hard floor. The pumpkin will break into pieces. Once you've cracked the pumpkin, use a large metal spoon to scrape out the seeds and any fibrous strings in the seed cavity. If you like, save the seeds for roasting.

Storing

Hard shells protect pumpkins from easy spoilage. Most will keep for a month or longer if stored in a cool, dry place. Once cut, pumpkins should be wrapped tightly in plastic, refrigerated and used within 3 to 4 days.