Recipes: Passion for pumpkin

This is the season of the pumpkin, but too many people only think of this glorious fruit when carving out a lantern for Halloween.

They are missing a culinary treat because pumpkin is that most versatile of ingredients which is as useful in savoury dishes as it is in puds.

For some, pumpkin has been a disappointing food, tried once and never again. But the fault lies then in the hands of the cook, not the pumpkin.

I have eaten some pretty revolting pumpkin dishes in my time, but avoid catastrophe by always using fresh pumpkin. And never steam it or cook it in water, but simmer it with whatever spices and flavourings you are using, in milk.

Here are three recipes using this seasonal food. Inspired by having eaten it in such a variety of dishes, I keenly anticipate the pumpkin season each year.

Pumpkin cake

This is a dense-textured cake, which tastes most delicious. I like to coat it with the same icing that I use for carrot cake, but using mascarpone instead of Philadelphia.

Butter a 9"/23cm diameter non-stick cake tin. Line it with a disc of baking parchment.

6 oz/170g raw pumpkin flesh cut into cubes about 1cm in size,

milk to cover the pumpkin cubes

cinnamon stick

a grating of nutmeg

finely grated rind of 1 orange

6oz/170g butter

6oz/170g soft light brown sugar

3 large eggs

6oz/170g self raising flour

Start by preparing the pumpkin flesh - cut it from the inside of the pumpkin and dice it, and put the dice into a saucepan. Cover it with milk, add the half cinnamon stick, the nutmeg and the grated orange rind, and simmer the milk gently, for 10 minutes. Then, drain off the milk, steam dry the pumpkin, which will have collapsed, and throw away the bit of cinnamon stick. Mash the pumpkin flesh and leave to cool.

For the cake

Beat together the butter and sugar until soft and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time and beating each in well before adding the next, and adding a spoonful of the sieved flour in between each egg. Lastly, beat in the cooled mashed pumpkin flesh. Spoon and scrape the cake mixture into the prepared cake tin, smooth the surface even, and bake in a moderate heat, 350F/180C/ Gas Mark 4, for 40-45 minutes. When you stick a skewer into the middle of the cake, it will emerge with a bit of cake sticking to it, but it shouldn't be running down the whole skewer. If it is, bake the cake for a further 5-10 minutes.

Cool the cake in the tin, then turn it out onto a serving plate.

For the icing

4 oz/110g soft butter

4 oz/110g mascarpone

6 oz/170g sieved icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (not Madagascar bourbon, if at all possible)

Beat together the soft butter with the mascarpone, and beat in the sieved icing sugar and the vanilla. Beat all together very well, then spread over the surface of the cake.

Pumpkin and pecorino cheese risotto

SERVES 6

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

3 onions, skinned, halved and diced finely

3 sticks of celery, wiped clean and each peeled with a potato peeler, to remove the stringy bits, then each stalk sliced finely

1lb/450g risotto rice

pint/145ml fairly dry white wine

2 pints/1.5 litres chicken or vegetable stock

approximately 1lb/450g pumpkin flesh, cut into cubes about 1cm in size

4oz/110g pecorino cheese, coarsely grated

2 tablespoons chopped parsley - to add just before serving

In a large saut pan heat the olive oil and fry the diced onions and sliced celery, stirring occasionally, until they are soft but not turning colour, about 5-7 minutes over a moderate heat.

Stir in the rice, stirring for a couple of minutes - the aim is to coat each grain of rice with oil. Then add the white wine, stir well and leave till it evaporates. Stir in some of the stock and add the cubes of pumpkin flesh. Stir and add the stock in stages until it is almost all incorporated. Test the rice, it should be just slightly firm, then add the remainder of the stock, and, just before serving stir in the grated pecorino and the finely chopped parsley, and season well with black pepper, but there is no need for salt because the pecorino will add sufficient saltiness.

Roasted pumpkin, parsnip and carrot

This makes such a good accompaniment, to everything I can think of. The dash of balsamic is essential, to just cut through the sweet denseness of the roasted vegetables.

SERVES 6

6 oz/170g pumpkin flesh cut into cubes about 2cms in size

2 onions, halved and thinly sliced

4 parsnips, peeled and sliced into little finger-thick strips

4 carrots peeled and sliced

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt, about 20 grinds of black pepper

2 teaspoons of the best balsamic vinegar you can buy

Mix the vegetables with the olive oil, salt and pepper and spread them in an even layer on an oven-proof roasting tin. Roast in a hot oven, 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6 for 30 minutes, then shuffle them around and spread them evenly again. Continue roasting for a further 30 minutes. Stir the balsamic through the vegetables, and serve.

This article was first published in The Scotsman, 30 October, 2010