Sweet fragrant, delicate pumpkin can become not only a daily dish, but also a decoration of the festive table. It contains many nutrients and vitamins, and vitamin A is fully preserved when baked in the microwave.
A variety with orange sweet flesh can be baked with herbs, such a dish will be delicious on its own. It is better to use pear-shaped butternut squash as a side dish for meat or poultry, and small Acorn pumpkins are usually stuffed. A pumpkin for baking must be prepared in advance, washed, peeled from a tough peel. If the skin is tender, you do not need to remove it, just rinse thoroughly. An overgrown pumpkin usually loses all its sweetness, so when baked as a dessert, it should be sprinkled heavily with sugar or poured over with honey.
Usually the inner contents of the pumpkin (seed nest and seeds) are carefully removed. To bake the pulp in the sauce, it must be cut into small cubes, but if it is supposed to serve pumpkin with meat, it is more interesting to cook it in large pieces. In any case, the dish will be tastier and more tender if you marinate the pulp in olive oil mixed with spices (rosemary, cinnamon, mint), salt and lemon juice in advance. If the sweet steamed pumpkin is a dessert, you can marinate it in honey and lemon juice.
Pumpkin seeds should not be thrown away - they are a valuable source of vitamins, they help to normalize blood pressure and lower blood sugar levels.
Prepared pieces of pumpkin should be put in a special dish for the microwave or an ordinary ceramic cup in one row, closed with a lid (not too tight, the lid should be able to release steam). The dishes must be greased in advance with butter or vegetable oil, otherwise the pieces may burn.
For baking a young pumpkin, 12 minutes will be enough at a power of 800 W, an overripe vegetable should be given a little more time - up to 15-18 minutes. Then you can sprinkle the dish with cinnamon, add the raisins and microwave for another 3 minutes. Such a pumpkin turns out to be sweet, with slightly dried edges and an original consistency, similar to toffee candies.
Even if pumpkin is used as a dessert, it tastes better when salted.
To get tender pulp that melts in your mouth, pour the pumpkin with water or sauce when baking. For example, you can use sour cream mixed with a few tablespoons of sugar as a filling. Or pour the pumpkin with fruit compote made from any fruit with added sugar. Another option is to add raisins, dried apricots, chopped pears or sweet and sour apples directly to the pumpkin dish, add water, add honey or sugar and bake everything together.
For a festive table, you should cook stuffed pumpkin in the microwave. It is necessary to pick up a small specimen in advance, with delicate pulp and thin walls. The top, together with the tail, should be cut off, but not thrown away - it will serve as a lid. Cut the inner part together with the seeds, remove the skin and rub the pumpkin with butter or vegetable oil, add a little salt.
It is better to add only ready-to-eat foods inside the pumpkin (raw meat will not bake!). You can use any fillings, but for dessert a mixture of sweet and sour apples, pears, raisins, honey, lemon juice, grated cheese, butter or cream, etc. is good. Bake for 30 minutes at full power, after the end of cooking do not open the microwave door, leave for another 5 minutes to evaporate.
