Pumpkin Hummus

I bought the tahini paste for this before the pumpkins were even ripe.  I like baba gannouj, and this is the same concept with pumpkins.

I'm descended from farmers on Papa Smurf's side.  How is it the only gardening I'm good at is trimming away dead plants?  Two of my pumpkin vines died before their pumpkins were ripe.  From what I understand, that's ok.  Just put the pumpkins somewhere warm and sunny until they ripen, like setting pears out on the counter if you buy them too hard.

I have something like ten pounds of pumpkin now and one more on the vine, if you count the stems, skins, and seeds.  I think I came out ahead if you only count the price of the seeds versus buying about six cans of pumpkin purée.  But that wasn't the whole cost.  There was the soil, water, blood meal, and pesticide/fungicide.  Even with doing half of the watering by using groundwater collected by the sump pump, this was definitely not as cost-effective as growing tomatoes.

For this batch, I cut open the smallest pumpkin, the one on the right, because it weighed the right amount to sub in for a can.  Turns out, even a tiny pumpkin has normal-sized seeds.  I was nervous about how this would affect the yield of the pumpkin flesh, but they don't weigh much and it came out how I was expecting.  Still, it's something to consider before I crack open another.

Be warned, this is a savory recipe.  And it came out a bit spicier than I expected, so maybe cut down on the cumin if you want to taste the pumpkin more.  As much as I would love to turn the whole harvest into sweet treats,  I really want to use the fresh pumpkin for as many squash-style recipes as I can.  You can get the slightly sweet canned stuff any time of the year.

1-1/2 lb raw pumpkin or 1 small can pumpkin purée
1/4 C tahini paste
*3 cloves garlic
1/4 C lemon juice, or to taste
1/4 tsp salt
*1/2 tsp cumin
olive oil as needed
paprika and roasted pumpkin seeds to garnish

1.  If using canned pumpkin, skip to step 2.  If starting from raw: preheat oven to 350º.  Split pumpkin in half and remove seeds and strings.  Lightly coat pieces of pumpkin with olive oil.  Place pumpkin cut-side down on cookie sheet (lining it with foil is a good idea) and roast until tender, about 40 minutes.  Then it will be easy to scrape the flesh out of the skin and into the food processor.

2.  Place first six ingredients and a light sprinkling of paprika in food processor and run until smooth.  Taste and add more lemon juice or garlic as needed.  If too thick, add a bit of olive oil.

3.  Place in serving bowl and garnish with paprika, pumpkin seeds, and maybe a little more olive oil.  Serve with pita chips and veggies.

Makes about 2 cups

Difficulty rating  π