Chris's Weblog – City Chickens

My diary from 2004

Tag Archive: pumpkin

Chris's Weblog - City Chickens > pumpkin

Pumpkin Soup

November 1, 2017 Cooking , ,

Well, I’m told that Sainsbury’s are selling off the pumpkins left over from the Halloween mayhem. Laura is hoping to bring us back a bargain for 10p. I shall cut up the flesh and cook in a little water until soft then use my blender to make a puree. Add a chicken stock cube dissolved in boiling water and season to taste, Pumpkin is very bland so any type of flavouring could be added, even curry powder, but I prefer it as it comes with a shake of black pepper on top and plenty of crusty bread. I have added a potato and a stick of celery before when cooking the pumpkin flesh, it just depends on what I have in the fridge at the time. The Delia Soup Collection advocates roasting the chunks of pumpkin in the oven first. I haven’t tried that yet but may do one day.

Recipe:

I large pumpkin deseeded and peeled

Chop up the flesh, rinse and put into a saucepan with a little water

If preferred add a potato, carrot and chopped celery at this point

Add a little salt

Simmer gently until soft

Drain and mash or blend to make a puree

Dissolve a chicken or vegetable stock cube in boiling water

Gently add the liquid to the blended pumpkin stirring until you have a creamy consistency

Serve hot with a chopped chives or parsley garnish

Sprinkle with black pepper and serve with crusty bread

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Pumpkin – Mammoth, Jack o’Lantern and Snowman

March 6, 2017 Allotments, Vegetables , ,

Laura’s pumpkin seeds are already chitted and put into a module tray to grow on. I have put my seeds in between damp kitchen towels and in a plastic box to chit. Four Pumpkin Snowman – A beautiful snow white ornamental pumpkin that will hopefully grow to the size of a football if several fruit are left on one plant. Grow in  rich soil. Full sun, ample moisture and insect control should bring good results from this vigorous variety. Seeds and information from Seekay. Six Pumpkin Mammoth – This is a more traditional large orange fruit. Six Pumpkin Jack-o’-lantern – This is thought to be the best pumpkin for carving. Good for Halloween carving or cooking. Fruits have a round to elongated shape and taste good as well. Pumpkins are hungry feeders so a weekly dose of tomato food will help them to reach their full potential. Harvest in Autumn.

Seven of Laura’s pumpkin seedlings have gone with her friend Bryan to live with him and eventually grow in his allotment. Her other seven have been potted on and are taking over my room. My own seeds have still to germinate.

Pumpkin Pie

August 19, 2009 Cooking ,

Made my first ever pumpkin pies this morning using just a quarter of a largish pumpkin. I did a search for a recipe as I had no idea what went into it apart from pumpkin and pastry. I used a block of frozen shortcrust pastry and lined two tart dishes. I pureed the pumpkin and added ginger and brown sugar. When the mixture was cooled I added four small beaten eggs and half a tin of condensed milk and poured the mixture into the pastry case. They took 50 minutes to cook and do look like they should. I will report on taste later. Update – add a lemon or more spices next time as it was quite bland.

Signs of Autumn

August 7, 2009 Allotments , ,

We spent a couple of hours at the plots this afternoon. The weather was warm and sunny and the ground was workable so we did a lot of weeding. Still back breaking work but easier than when the ground is dry or heavy with rain. Rob dug up a few rows of potatoes and we emptied three bags too so we came back with quite a haul. They seem ok as far as the Blight is concerned so lets hope they store ok. This evening I cooked some Charlotte and they were very good.

cucumber carmen

We cut another cucumber from the Carmen plant and though they are few and far between the quality of them is brilliant. We also cut one of the Butterhead lettuce. Pity the tomatoes are still not big or red enough to eat. The outdoor tomatoes seem to be getting the first signs of Blight with the young fruit turning black. Very sad. The runner beans were loaded and I picked a large box full as well as giving Frank and his wife quite a few as his were a bit late going in and are only just starting to produce. I pulled a few of the Rainbow carrots too. There seem to be plenty of snails, earwigs and wood lice having a go at everything, especially the brassicas and the white fly is starting to show itself again. We brought home a couple of cabbages and found one that was so nibbled we had to throw it on to the compost heap. The pumpkin plants are rampant and covered in yellow globes of varying sizes and are a reminder that Autumn will soon be here.

jenne20st20pumpkin20field.jpg

Potato Famine

October 8, 2007 Allotments, Vegetables , ,

Rob has finally finished the heartbreaking task of digging over the potato beds on plot 18. I suppose I shall have to start buying potatoes from Sainsburys again. Blooming Blight! Never mind. The plot looks very tidy and we are planning to put a few loads of horse muck on the beds ready for next year. We cut the one big pumpkin and delivered it to our nephew, Matthew, who had asked us to grow one for him for Halloween. I harvested the remaining few beetroot and pickled them. I picked a few nice runner beans again but I feel this may be the last of them. I have left some bigger ones on for seed. Also brought back two lovely pointed cabbages, one for us and one for Roy and Janice. The carrots and parsnips are doing well and we have decided that next year we shall sow the seeds then count the days and harvest at the recommended time rather than letting them get too big. We bought some onion sets today from Focus, one Radar yellow, one Electric Red and one bag of white Snowball. We plan to put them over on plot 18.

radarwhitered baron

Courgette Anyone?

August 13, 2007 Allotments, Vegetables , , , ,

It has been a while since I wrote on the weblog but there hasn’t been much to report. The weather has gone from one extreme to another and there is a definite hint of Autumn in the air already. We are getting loads of runner beans every visit now and we have been amazed at how prolific the four courgette plants are. Every time we go to the plots we bring home a carrier bag full of beans and at least two courgettes which seem to grow overnight. We had never eaten courgettes before but luckily we do enjoy them aswell as being able to give some to family and friends. We continue to dig up the potatoes and it seems like about 50% are blight free so not as bad as we thought and we haven’t had to buy any. The tomatoes have produced a few fruit but on the whole both the tomatoes and the cucumbers have been very disappointing. We shall have to try harder next year.

pumpkin

The pumpkin plant that survived is now enormous with quite a few smallish fruit and one very large beautiful golden orb which Rob has sat on a piece of carpet and looks very grand. The butternut squash and the one surviving melon plant are growing slowly. The lettuce plants have been very nice but have come to an end before the tomatoes have got started so some problems in the planning there.

 

 

sweetcorn

Both the baby corn and the big sweetcorn plants are thriving with cobs already swelling on the bigger plants so we are hoping for a good harvest from them.

We heard that we got 78 points in the local council competition but don’t really know what this means and so as we have received no congratulatory phone call we must assume that the judges did pop their heads into the lean to on that dreaded judgement day and we came out bottom of the class. Ah well.