Easy pumpkin recipes - One 99p pumpkin, one meal for the family!

Halloween recycle with easy pumpkin recipes – One 99p pumpkin, one meal for the whole family! Use it all! No waste!

Feeding the Family

Recipes

Published on Tuesday, 17 October 2023 11:39

Last Updated on 17 October 2023

Monica Costa

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The ultimate Halloween food recycle corner is here! Easy pumpkin recipes are my new thing this Autumn. Before Halloween I bought a huge pumpkin for decoration purposes for just 99p. Before I knew, I used every single part of the pumpkin to make various nutritious meals and no waste whatsoever. With poverty on the rise, I could not face the idea of just using the pumpkin to carve grins just to scare little kiddies knocking at my door. Here is all I made out of a single pumpkin. Forgive my photos which are not very professional but you will get the idea.

Here are all the pumpkin recipes I made from one pumpkin: a soup as an entrée, roasted seeds as a snack, a risotto, roasted veggies as a side dish.

Easy pumpkin soup

A super-easy, yet delicious pumpkin soup. Chicken stock, pumpkin puree and seasoning are simmered together before being liquidised and served. Enjoy with a crusty bread roll.

This is a classic, easy pumpkin soup that is very fast to make. Everything you need, none of the unnecessary frills. My secret for extra flavour in pumpkin soup is to cook the pumpkin in broth with onion and garlic that is then pureed into the soup. It makes all the difference!

Especially in winter, there’s nothing better than dunking crusty bread into a big bowl of creamy pumpkin soup. And there are millions and millions of recipes “out there”, so why would you consider using this one?

Well, here’s the thing. There are many fancied up versions of pumpkin soup “out there”. Gourmet ingredients, spices, exotic spins.

But you don’t need all those frills to make a truly great classic pumpkin soup. And that’s what this recipe is – a great EASY Pumpkin Soup recipe, a classic version that has everything it needs and nothing it doesn’t to be can’t-stop-eating-it delicious.

I say this is easy, and I exaggerate not. All you need to do is plonk pumpkin, onion, garlic, broth and water into a pot, and boil rapidly for 15 minutes until the pumpkin is super soft. Blitz until smooth, adjust salt and pepper to taste then add either milk OR cream – whichever you prefer.

Here’s my view on cream. Does it make it better? Yes, insofar as adding richness to the soup. Is it necessary? Absolutely not. You do NOT need cream to make the soup thicker. All the thickness comes from the pumpkin itself.

Plus, this soup has added extra flavour from the onion and garlic. Without this, I’d probably say yes, cream is a must.

So in my recipe, it’s an optional extra. Also because I don’t usually have cream on hand. So I usually use milk. If you’re really busting for some extra richness and you don’t have cream, add a knob of butter – it works a treat!

4 steps. A bit of chopping, plonk it all in a pot, blitz, season then serve. My classic pumpkin soup really is that easy!

Halloween recipe: Creepy Carrot, Parsnip and Pumpkin Soup

Recipe: Pumpkin Soup – ADD A HINT OF HALLOWEEN TO YOUR SOUP!

Ingredients
Makes: 7 – 10 servings

1.5 litres chicken stock
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1kg pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
1 onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
125ml whipping cream
5 whole black peppercorns

Method
Prep:15min › Cook:1hr › Ready in:1hr15min

Heat stock, salt, pumpkin puree, onion, thyme, garlic and peppercorns. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes uncovered.
Puree the soup in small batches using a food processor or liquidiser.
Return to pan and bring to the boil again. Reduce heat to low and simmer for another 30 minutes, uncovered. Stir in whipping cream. Pour into soup bowls and garnish with fresh parsley.
For a lighter version of this soup, I copied everything off this recipe except only added 1 Tablespoon of the Heavy Whipping Cream. Really I could have gone without the whipping cream all together. I modified this soup so it would be lighter in both fat and calories. I thought that the flavour and smooth texture was not compromised at all by reducing the whipping cream amount.

Ingredients

Pumpkin puree can be purchased jarred or tinned online and in speciality shops. If unavailable, simply bake or steam the equivalent weight of peeled and cubed pumpkin, and then puree yourself. Pureed pumpkin can be stored in the freezer for months.

1.2 kg / 2.4 lb pumpkin (any), unpeeled weight
1 onion, sliced (white, brown, yellow)
2 garlic cloves, peeled whole
3 cups / 750ml vegetable or chicken broth, low sodium
1 cup / 250 ml water
Salt and pepper

Finishes:

1/2 – 3/4 cup / 125 – 185 ml cream or half and half (Note 2) or 3/4 cup / 185 ml milk (any type, I use low fat)

Method

Cut the pumpkin into 3cm / 2.25″ slices. Cut the skin off and scrape seeds out (video is helpful). Cut into chunks.
Place the pumpkin, onion, garlic, broth and water in a pot – liquid won’t cover all the pumpkin. Bring to a boil, uncovered, then reduce heat and let simmer rapidly until pumpkin is tender.
Remove from heat and use a stick blender to blend until smooth. If you don’t have a stick blender, use a blender – see notes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper, stir through cream (never boil soup after adding soup, cream will split).
Ladle soup into bowls, drizzle over a bit of cream, sprinkle with pepper and parsley if desired. Serve with crusty bread!

Pumpkin risotto

Ingredients

15 g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 ¹_/2cups Arborio rice
1 cup diced pumpkin (I use butternut)
3 -4 cups hot stock (chicken or vegetable)
¹?₂cup grated parmesan cheese
salt
freshly ground black pepper
¹_/2cup chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Method

Heat butter and oil together in a large saucepan or fry pan.
Gently cook the onion and garlic.
Add the rice and cook, stirring until the rice is coated in the oil mix.
Cook this about 1 minute.
Stir in the pumpkin and mushrooms.
Pour over 1 cup of the hot stock.
Cook, stirring often until the liquid is almost all absorbed.
You don’t want the liquid to be boiling in with the rice, just a gentle simmer.
Continue stirring and adding stock one cup at a time until the stock is all absorbed and the rice is tender.
This takes about 20 minutes.
You don’t need to stand there stirring the whole time if you use a non-stick pot and return often.
Stir in the parmesan cheese,seasoning and parsley.
It will go lovely and sticky with the cheese.
Serve immediately.

Pumpkin nutritional facts

As I used this colourful veggie to its full potential, I researched its nutritional values and make me feel good about it too.

Pumpkin is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Dietary Fibre, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Potassium, Copper and Manganese. What more could you ask from a vegetable.

If you have any pumpkin recipes you want to share, please send them to us and we will post them with your credits and images online.

On the hunt for more Halloween recipes, I was looking into the huge London Mums recipe archive and found these delicious meal ideas.

Halloween cocktail recipe: Pumpkin Martini

Halloween cocktail recipe: Zombie Brains

Halloween recipe: Hair-raising Rosti Spiders and Creepy Croquette Mice

Halloween recipe: White chocolate Granola Bark Halloween Ghosts

Halloween recipes: The ultimate Colin the Caterpillar trifle & other sweet treats

Halloween recipe: Creepy Carrot, Parsnip and Pumpkin Soup

Recipe: Pumpkin Soup – ADD A HINT OF HALLOWEEN TO YOUR SOUP!

Pumpkin Soup

Halloween recipe: Scary Stuffed Jack-o-Lantern Peppers

HALLOWEEN OUTING to a PUMPKIN FARM

Monica Costa

Monica Costa founded London Mums in September 2006 after her son Diego’s birth together with a group of mothers who felt the need of meeting up regularly to share the challenges and joys of motherhood in metropolitan and multicultural London. London Mums is the FREE and independent peer support group for mums and mumpreneurs based in London https://londonmumsmagazine.com and you can connect on Twitter @londonmums