Pumpkin is the perfect vegetable for many delicious dishes. Vegetable stews are prepared with it, mashed soups, smoothies, even sherbets are made, added to cereals, baked goods, baked pies with pumpkin filling. Another fun way to use this healthy vegetable in the kitchen is to make pumpkin sauce that goes well with any meal.
To make a variety of pumpkin sauces, you can make pumpkin puree. In the future, it will serve as the basis for many recipes for sauces.
How to make pumpkin puree
Pumpkin puree is very easy to make. This puree can be used in a wide variety of dishes, from soups to baked goods. Pumpkin puree is good for making sauces.
For mashed potatoes, you need one medium pumpkin, preferably sweet varieties.
Step-by-step instruction:
Step 1. Remove the stalk and cut the vegetable in half.
Step 2. Peel the pumpkin from the core and seeds. If desired, the seeds can be washed and dried. They can be eaten directly, they are very useful for the body. You can peel the dried pumpkin seeds, and grind the grains and use, for example, to decorate a smoothie or add to bread dough.
Step 3. Preheat the oven to 220 ° C. Place two pumpkin slices, pulp side down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Add some water. Bake for one hour. Check the readiness with a fork - it should be easy to enter.
Step 4. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and let it cool.
Step 5. Use a spoon to scrape the flesh from the sides of the pumpkin.
Step 6. Grind the pumpkin pulp until puree in a food processor or blender.
Puree can be put into a jar and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can canned pumpkin puree by boiling for 5 minutes, and roll up for the winter, so that you can then use it for culinary purposes.
Pumpkin puree can be frozen in small bags. Can also be put into ice cube trays. When the mashed potatoes are frozen, empty the containers by transferring the mashed potatoes to a separate bag. The frozen product can be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months. For cooking, you can defrost the required amount of mashed potatoes in the microwave or add portions directly to the dish.
Pumpkin tomato sauce for pizza
Required:
- 200 g pumpkin puree;
- 200 g tomato sauce;
- 1-2 cloves of garlic;
- 1 tsp Italian dried herbs.
Step 1. Mix all the ingredients together. Tomato sauce can be replaced with the pulp of three medium-sized tomatoes.
Step 2. Pour into a saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes.
Sauce yield: for 2-3 small pizzas.
Pumpkin yoghurt sauce
Yield: 3 glasses of sauce.
Ingredients:
- 350 g pumpkin puree;
- 1 tbsp butter;
- 1 small onion;
- 280 g Greek yogurt
- a pinch of nutmeg;
- ½ tsp salt;
- freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Step 1. Chop the onion. Fry the onion until light golden brown in butter, salt. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
Step 2. In a blender or food processor, combine the pumpkin puree, yogurt, a pinch of salt, nutmeg, and freshly ground black pepper. Mix until a homogeneous consistency is obtained for 1-2 minutes.
The addition of 75 g finely grated Parmesan cheese makes the sauce ideal for pasta dishes. In this case, the sauce should be served hot.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Sauce for Pasta
For 6 servings:
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter;
- 1 cup cream (or half cream with milk)
- ¼ tsp nutmeg;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese (finely grated);
- ½ cup grated cheddar cheese
- ¼ tsp salt;
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper.
Step 1. Saute the chopped garlic in a skillet over medium heat for 1 minute.
Step 2. Add pumpkin puree, cream, nutmeg, stir.
Step 3. Increase heat and cook until it boils. Stir occasionally.
Step 4. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 4-5 minutes. The pumpkin sauce should thicken.
Step 5. Add grated cheese, salt and pepper.
This sauce is served hot with pasta, pasta and lasagne.
Pumpkin tomato sauce for fish
You will need:
- 300 g pumpkin puree;
- 250 g tomato sauce or pulp of 4 medium tomatoes;
- 2 tsp butter;
- 1 small onion;
- 2 tsp curry spices;
- 1 tbsp garlic powder or 1 clove;
- ½ tsp hot red pepper;
- ¼ a glass of chicken or vegetable broth;
- salt and black pepper to taste.
Step 1. Fry chopped onion, garlic and curry in butter over medium heat. Cook for 1 minute.
Step 2. Add tomato sauce (or pulp), pumpkin puree, fill with broth. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 3. Add red hot pepper, salt and black pepper to the prepared sauce. Transfer to a blender or food processor, blend until smooth.
The amount of sauce is designed for 4-6 fillets of white fish. Usually fillets are seasoned with salt and ground black pepper and baked in the oven for 12-15 minutes. When the fish is ready, it is poured over with pumpkin sauce.
Pumpkin sauce for meat dishes
The sauce goes well with any meat dishes, meatballs, cutlets, chops, kebabs and homemade sausages.
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- ½ cup tomato paste (can be substituted with ketchup);
- 2 tbsp table vinegar;
- 1 tsp honey;
- 1 tbsp nutmeg;
- 1 tbsp paprika;
- 2 cloves of garlic or 1-1.5 tbsp. dried garlic;
- 1 onion;
- ½ tbsp salt;
- ½ tbsp freshly ground black pepper;
- 1 tsp hot red pepper.
Step 1. Finely chop the onion and garlic cloves.
Step 2. Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Mix well.
Step 3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 4. Let the mixture cool slightly, pepper and mix in a blender until smooth.
Pumpkin caramel sauce for desserts
This sauce is perfect for desserts and sweet pastries (biscuits, brownies, muffins, etc.). The pumpkin-caramel sauce tastes sweet and salty with a little spiciness.
Sauce yield: 3 cups.
Required:
- 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup peeled pumpkin seeds
- 1, 5 cups heavy cream;
- ½ tsp cinnamon;
- ¼ tsp nutmeg;
- ¼ tsp ginger;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- ¾ tsp salt;
- 2 cups sugar;
- ½ glass of honey;
- ¼ a glass of water;
- 40 g butter;
- 1 tsp lemon juice.
Step by step:
Step 1. Lightly fry the pumpkin seeds in a skillet.
Step 2. In a saucepan, combine the pumpkin puree, heavy cream, spices and salt. Heat over low heat, but do not bring to a boil.
Step 3. Combine sugar, honey and water in a heavy-bottomed skillet or pan. Stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil. Gently and slowly add the cream and pumpkin mixture and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens.
Step 4. Remove sauce from heat, add butter and lemon juice. Stir until smooth. Add pumpkin seeds.
Pumpkin caramel sauce should be kept in a tightly closed container in the refrigerator. To use in dishes, just heat the required amount of sauce.
Universal pumpkin and vegetable sauce
This is a very simple recipe. It differs in that the sauce is not prepared on the basis of pumpkin puree. All vegetables, including pumpkin, are baked together in the oven, then chopped in a food processor. The calorie content of this sauce is only 80 kcal per 100 g.
You will need:
- 300 g pumpkin;
- 1 red bell pepper;
- 3 medium tomatoes;
- 1 leek;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 20 g lemon juice;
- 1 tbsp olive oil;
- salt and spices to taste.
Step 1. Cover the baking dish with foil or parchment. Cut all vegetables into small pieces.
Step 2. Lay out the vegetables, salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil.
Step 3. Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 40 minutes.
Step 4. Separate the pulp from the baked tomatoes and bell peppers with a spoon.
Step 5. Put everything in a blender, add lemon juice, and chop the vegetables to a sauce.
Cold and hot pumpkin and vegetable sauce can be served with any dish.
