It’s the end of summer here in southwestern Pennsylvania and mainly the end of Husband and I’s first official garden. We had a lot of surprises this year; plants popping up where we didn’t plant them, stuff we ‘forgot’ and found itself wrapped around something else halfway through July. In the end some things did great and some, not so good. But for all of our hard work we did end up with a little bounty all our own and that’s all you can ask for.

Pumpkins, carrots, aubergine, tomatoes, green peppers, honeydewmelon, watermelon

So, my pumpkins were ready to come off of the vine and it’s over a month until Hallowe’en so what could I do with them? Well, I separated and dried the seeds to roast and put away to plant next year. I’m saving one for a pie and the other I split in half. One half I sliced, fried and buttered and served with sausage and the other half I made into a stew. Turned out really nice and I thought  I’d share my throw-together GF recipe with you!

Sweet pumpkin (and baby watermelon) from my garden 2010

Rose’s End-of-Summer Pumpkin Stew (amounts are approximate)

1/2 small sweet pumpkin
1 tin low-salt chicken broth
2-3 c water or more
3/4 c. chunky peanut butter
1 green pepper
3 medium red tomatoes
handful chopped green onions w/tops
3 tbs olive oil or more
spices (generous pinch or more to taste): black pepper, cumin, thyme, coriander, garlic powder, nutmeg
sea salt to taste

Garnishes: grated cheddar, sweet chili sauce, soured cream, chopped cilantro

1. Prepare the pumpkin. Slice into large chunks and cook on 350F for 40 min. Let cook and cut away from the rind.
2. Cook pumpkin chunks in chicken broth 1 1/2 hrs, adding up to 3 c. water as needed to cover.
3.Meanwhile, chop 1/2 of the scallions and green pepper into small bits. Cook in olive oil until softened and set aside.
4. Let the pumpkin broth cool a little and liquify in batches in a blender. Return to pot.
5. Chop up tomatoes and rest of the scallions and add, with peppers, to the pot. At this time also add the spices and peanut butter.
6. Cook on low another 20-30 minutes til thickened and blended.

stew made from my garden pumpkin, tomatoes and peppers

Serving Suggestions:

1. Serve on rice (we eat brown but basmati would also be very good)
2. Top with a hunk of mozarella and warm under a broiler as you would french onion soup
3. Swirl with soured cream or sweet chili sauce
4. Serve over buttered grits
5. Serve over fried polenta

Tasty Factor: cool colour, nice constistency and flavours aren’t overpowering.

Poopy Factor: takes a while to prepare. You could try tinned pumpkin and throw it together to reduce cooking time to 30 or 40 minutes but then you’d still have a yard full of pumpkins needing to be used up. Your choise!

My spice rack which Jesus and a coke bottle watch over