The Garden, mid July

I had created a monster. Those leaves proceeded to climb up the wall, across the patio and, for a while, were a major point of contempt between Chris and I. He hacked them almost back to nothing twice, but this was no ordinary pumpkin plant. This was a man-eating pumpkin plant.

Pumpkin plant mid-takeover

Somehow, though, only two pumpkins came to fruition. And they were MASSIVE ‘culinary’ pumpkins. I mean huuuge!

Huge pumpkin

I think one of my mistakes here was that I planted / harvested the pumpkins too soon. The stems had gone woody but the insides were slightly green and sort of spongy.

Gutting the pumpkins

Nevertheless, the pumpkins were seeded and gutted – my favourite part of the process, actually; gutting pumpkins is very therapeutic.

Next I chopped them up and steamed them in the biggest pot I had. It still took me a good couple of hours, though, just because of the size and quantity of pumpkin! I would recommend using smaller pumpkins because they’re sweeter and you don’t have to add as much sugar to them.

Boiling pumpkins to make purée

I also saved the seeds to rinse and roast – yuuummmm!

Pumpkin seeds

Finally, when the pumpkin was cooked through enough and mushy, I let it cool for a few minutes and then filleted it from the skin (if that makes sense).

The cooked pumpkin

A quick zap in the food processor and I had my very own pumpkin glop purée! All but three cups of it went straight into the freezer and the rest was spiced according to this recipe (which I’ve made several times now and is delicious).

Puréed pumkin with spices

By this point I had run out of patience so I rolled out a store-bought pastry (gasp!) and chucked it in the oven.

Pumpkin pie in the oven

I had enough for two pies. And boy were they ever good!

The finished pumpkin pie - yummm!

Seriously, it’s so rewarding making pumpkin pie from a *real* pumpkin instead of that crap you buy in cans.

A little late for Thanksgiving but better than never, right?

This apple crisp recipe is easy to remember and totes scalable, depending how many apples you have.

Ingredients

• 4-6 apples, peeled and sliced (I like tart apples best.)
• ½ cup plain flour
• ½ cup margarine or soft butter (I often reduce this amount a little, in an effort not to be so unhealthy.)
• ¾ cup brown sugar (To my UK readers, this means light muscovado.)
• ¾ cup rolled oats
• 175ml merlot, or wine of your preference*

Directions

1. Mix everything but the apples with two knives until there aren’t any huge lumps of butter left. Or, if you’re super lazy like me, you can chuck it in the food processor while you have a few sips of your wine.
2. Lightly spread topping on apples.
3. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 175°C / 350°F until apples are soft and top is crispy. This should give you enough time to finish your glass of wine and as an added bonus, your entire house will smell delish.
4. [Optional] Really try to force yourself to wait 10 minutes before testing so as not to burn your mouth.
5. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

You can really throw a crisp topping on any fruit, or a combination of fruits. Apple rhubarb is good, as is blueberry. You can also add pumpkin pie spice (mixed spice in UK) to the fruit for a more Christmassy taste.

*The only thing I could possibly add to my mother’s recipe to make it better!

The recipes will be chosen randomly – recipes I’ve always wanted to try, recommendations from friends (you lot – get commenting!), and requests from Chris.

The first recipe which I will attempt is Roasted Rack of Lamb from Allrecipes.com. Chris requested rack of lamb, and I’ve never tried it before so I happily obliged. [Side note: I've been reading too much Jane Austen. Obliged?! Upon my word!]

Roasted Rack of Lamb

I will try to document the process as best I can, so count me in for one entry per month!

Bon appétit!

Yummy! I’ve typed out the recipe below:

Ingredients

• 5 tbsp butter
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 apples, peeled and chopped
• 4 tbsp flour
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 2 cans beef consomme
• 1 cup water
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 cups diced meat

Directions

• Saute onion and apple together in a deep skillet until tender, using 2 tbsp of the butter.
• Then add the rest of the butter, sift flour and curry powder on top and stir until it is comfortably integrated.
• Add consomme, water, lemon juice, and meat.
• Simmer it all for 30-60 minutes while you cook the rice (or pasta) to serve it on.

And when you’re finished, you’ll have something that looks like this: