Don't Waste Your Pumpkin!
Guest writer Emily has a pumpkin recipe and we announce new (mini) Season
Hello and welcome to October’s free newsletter! We (north of the equator) are getting seasonal and nostalgic. This time last year we were entering Gourd Season - which was so, so fun! A supper club, many articles with ~erm~ gourd photos… a season that spanned music, heritage, booze, and rainmaking.
At the end of this month we will be entering a new (min) season that feels akin to Gourd Season - for October, November, December we will look at the ingredient of ‘celebration’ and explore how that concepts feeds into our food and drink systems.
(One more Tree Season piece still to come before then though.)
Gourds felt like a celebration. In places that have autumn they represent a change of season - that Starbucks have capitalised on with ‘pumpkin spice latte’ - an idea worthy of festivities, and they feature in pumpkin pies that North America have as celebration food. Therefore, to usher in Celebration Season we have the wonderful chef Emily Gussin as a guest writer. Emily is a recipe writer, food editor, stylist & chef and food, and the Producer & Sustainability Lead at delicious.
Emily tells us what ‘celebration means to her’ and shares a recipe from her new book Don’t Waste Your Pumpkin. She has also written a book Don’t Waste Your Turkey (more details at the end of the newsletter) - which is another ingredient for celebrations! For some spooky (pumpkin) fun, join Emily for a supper club at Dusty Knuckle on 31 October.
Emily’s recipe is fun, and definitely one for a gathering to celebrate any moment in life.
Pumpkin mac and cheese
Serve this dish in the middle of the table for an impressive centrepiece. Make sure you scoop the pumpkin flesh out with the saucy pasta filling to enjoy the whole thing.
Serves 4
1 pumpkin, about 1.2kg (2½lb)
3 tbsp olive oil
30g (1oz) unsalted butter
30g (1oz) plain (all- purpose) flour
1 tsp English mustard powder
¼ tsp paprika
500ml (16fl oz) milk
150g (5oz) mature cheddar, grated
50g (1¾oz) Comté or Gruyère, grated
300g (10oz) dried macaroni or spiral pasta
50g (1¾oz) chunky breadcrumbs
30g (1oz) Parmesan, grated
salt and black pepper
Preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan/425°F/Gas 7).
Cut the top quarter off the pumpkin and remove the seeds, then place the pumpkin on a baking tray.
Chop the removed top into 2-cm (¾-inch) chunks (remove the stalk but only peel if very thick skin) and spread out on another baking tray. Drizzle both trays with oil, season and bake for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat then add the flour, mustard powder and paprika, and cook for a few minutes, stirring it into a dry paste. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring well with each addition to make a smooth paste and, once all the milk is added, a smooth sauce. Bubble for a few minutes to thicken a little, then add the cheeses and stir to melt. Remove from the heat and season.
Cook the macaroni in a large pan of salted boiling water for 2 minutes less than the pack instructions, or until al dente. Drain, then stir through the cheese sauce. Add the pumpkin cubes to the mac and cheese and stir to combine.
Pour the mixture into the roast pumpkin. Scatter over the breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes until golden and bubbling.
"Food has always been my love language so it has to be a major component of celebration. I started my career in cakes and baking so I have always made cakes for celebrations, friends birthdays and weddings. If I'm hosting a celebration of any kind I want it to be a feast. I love serving big sharing platters because any food that can be eaten together feels celebratory to me. Whether that's one dish in the centre of a table, or a big buffet, or a cake to cut up, the act of enjoying food with others brings about that personal connection and enhances the joy of food.
For me it's also about celebrating all ingredients as they are. My recipe writing and work focuses on seasonal ingredients and being more conscious of sourcing because food tastes better that way and is better for our health and the planet. If you know where an ingredient has come from, who has grown it or how it was produced, you're celebrating the work and beauty that goes into it just by eating it mindfully. Pumpkins are synonymous with celebrations as an icon of harvest season and Halloween of course. But the waste surrounding their use as decoration is very emblematic of our society's relationship with food. It's so sad that an ingredient so versatile, with all the varieties that have slight differences in flavour and texture and are such a joy to cook with, is often left to rot on our doorsteps. I hope my cookbook helps people reevaluate their worth. And the big sharing recipes in the book, like my pumpkin mac and cheese, are a brilliant way of celebrating as it has that wow factor when brought to the table, compelling you to dig in and share.”
Don't Waste Your Turkey is filled with 45 recipes that take you through everything you need for enjoying this celebratory bird. There's a whole roast turkey and a guide on carving, plus more leftovers recipes than you can imagine. But Emily also included a guide for jointing a turkey and recipes to cook different parts of the bird - as well as a roast crown there's confit turkey legs, buffalo turkey wings and many more. A few years ago she was shocked to learn that around 14 million turkey legs are wasted every year as people often find it easier to cook a crown or joint. Turkey legs become so tender when cooked slowly so it's a massive shame to not enjoy them let alone the food waste issue. There's also recipes that use turkey fat leftover from your roasting tin (“I particularly love the cheese scone recipe”), crispy turkey skin, and a stock so every part of the bird is used to its full potential.
A little reminder that Sourced is a reader funded publication, by upgrading to a paid subscription you will contributing to the fees we pay our writers, and all our articles are available to all on our website.
Some more pumpkin fun and info, from Emily’s book -
