It’s fall of the year. That time when the leaves turn red and gold, the weather turns cool, and our thoughts turn to Halloween and pumpkins. Those delicious orange pumpkins are good for more than just making jack-o’lanterns,
Friendly pumpkin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
but with today’s busy schedules, it is usually easier to just pick up a can of pumpkin — even a ready made pie — than it is to actually cook and prepare a pumpkin. But wait, that really isn’t true if you use a solar oven to bake the pumpkin. Two years ago, I showed you how I bake a pumpkin in the solar oven. I used the smallest, least efficient solar oven and the pumpkin still baked to perfection. This year, I baked the pumpkin in the GSO. And the results were the same. This is absolutely the easiest way to bake a pumpkin or other large squash.
In order to fit the pumpkin into the GSO, I had to do things a little differently than before. I cut the top off, and cleaned out the inside of the pumpkin. Then I inverted the pumpkin over the fusion roaster.
Fusion roaster
Cleaned pumpkin inverted over the Fusion Pan
It takes a full day of sun to bake a pumpkin, so I started early and went about my day. Unfortunately for me — or should I say, the pumpkin — the day turned out to be hazy and a bit overcast; and when I got home, I found the GSO was completely in the shade. Nonetheless, this pumpkin was about 3/4 baked anyway! I decided to put it out again the following day to finish up and make sure the pumpkin was cooked. (I put in the refrigerator overnight and put it back into the solar oven cold.) I let it cook about another 4 hours until it was really soft.
Whole pumpkin baking in the GSO
The pumpkin baked in the solar oven is very soft and easy to mash.
Usually the rind will just peel off. I don’t know if it was the type of pumpkin or the two day cook method, but the rind didn’t peel right off this time. However, it did slice off very quickly and easily, just like peeling a cantaloupe. After cutting it up into large chunks, my husband used a stick mixer to quickly mash it into a thick pulp. The juice that was in the pan was added to the chunks in the bowl. Peeling and mashing only took about 15 – 20 minutes.
The mashed pulp can be used in any standard recipe calling for canned pumpkin in equal proportions. (1 cup pulp = 1 cup canned). However, I generally increase the spices called for in the recipe by 1/4 to 1/2 ( 1 tsp in recipe = 1.25 tsp or 1.5 tsp) depending on your taste. This compensates for spices added to canned pumpkin by the manufacturer.
By baking and mashing your own pumpkin puree, you know there are no additives, just pure pumpkin. Perfect for any recipe.
This pumpkin was baked in a solar oven and is very soft and easy to scoop.
Chunks of cooked and peeled pumpkin ready to be mashed into puree
A stick blender very quickly turned chunks of cooked pumpkin into pumpkin puree.
Related articles
- 7 delectable ways to use pumpkins this fall (holykaw.alltop.com)
- Chicago Metallic Fusion Roaster
- EHow: Make your own Pumpkin Puree
- Homemade Baby Food Recipes: Cooking with Pumpkin (babyzone.com)
- How to Make Pumpkin Puree (williams-sonoma.com)
This is a simply, yet satisfying chicken dish that is perfect for solar cooking. The green beans were cooked along with it, in a parchment packet that I put on top of the dutch oven towards the end of the cooking time. Chicken with Chickpeas 1 Tbs olive oil 1 medium onion, finely chopped 1/2 tsp turmeric 6 chicken thighs, skinned 1/2 cup water 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper 2 Tbs fresh lemon juice 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained Combine oil, onion and turmeric in a large dutch oven. Add chicken, turning to coat. Add water, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and garlic. Place in Sun Oven for approx. 2 hours or until chicken is tender. Mix in chickpeas and leave in Sun Oven until heated. Serve over couscous with hot sauce.
Thank you for this amazing idea!
I love the look on the faces of the people when they see a whole pumpkin sitting in your oven. This is one of my favorite ways of cooking squash family and, most times, I don’t even remove the seeds first. And, now, they have those little pie pumpkins that produce just the right amount of purée the one pie and the pumpkin, itself, is sweeter than the standard size. Always great to see which you doing.Come visit when you can.
Oh, those little pumpkins cook fast and are nice and sweet. Plus they look really cute. Just enough for a pie. Thanks for stopping to visit.
Thanks for your help. Do I still need to cut the top off if I cook the pumpkin whole? Will it be hard to clean out the seeds from the pulp?
Hi Terry, No if you cook the pumpkin whole, you do not need to cut off the top and clean out the seeds. After it is cooked, the top cuts off really easily and the seeds just pull right out. It is the way that I prefer. Here is how to cook the pumpkin whole. Thanks for the question.
I don’t have a fusion pan. Could I use something else?
Hi, any dark pan that will fit in your oven will work. I used this pan to help hold up the pumpkin because I had cut and cleaned it out, but you can cook the pumpkin whole without cleaning it out first and it cooks great. Thanks for stopping by. Txazlady
I am so impressed!