Previously I have oven roasted pumpkins to turn them into puree, in fact the seed in the compost was from the previous batch. The oven method takes a while so this time I used the microwave and it worked surprisingly well. I just cut them in half, scooped out the center and nuked them cut side down on the potato setting until a knife pierced easily. I then scooped the flesh out of the skin and pureed it in the food processor. Isn't it a beautiful orange colour, certainly nicer then its canned cousin.
Here is the final product. I chose a Caramel Pumpkin Pie recipe from Gourmet magazine, the recipe can be found at the following link. It starts by making a caramel sauce and then you add that to the custard filling before baking. If you are pinched for time I think jarred caramel sauce would be a good substitution. Although I would advise against it as there is nothing better then eating spoon fulls of warm, buttery caramel sauce right out of the pot, yum. It was the best tasting pumpkin pie I have ever had, definitely worth a try.I have 3/4 of a cup of pumpkin puree left so I will have to come up with an another recipe for that, maybe pumpkin doughnuts, any other ideas?
If you have some extra space for pie pumpkins you should give them a try. They keep really well, this one has sat in the kitchen since October and it was just as nice as when I harvested it. I see how pumpkins sustained Native North Americans & Settlers as they keep so well. Although I don't think I would want to live on a diet of pumpkin unless it is mixed with lots of sugar and heavy cream.
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