Homemade roasted pumpkin purée

 

Around Halloween I saw many nice recipes from bloggers using canned pumpkin purée. I would like to try and make some of them but it’s nearly impossible to find some in Israel. So I simply made this wholefood, homemade pumpkin purée from fresh pumpkin I found at the souq. It couldn’t be easier than that!

Ingredient

Baking pumpkin (The variety of pumpkin grown here is large. It is already sold in pieces, and the flesh is rather thick. 2 kilos of fresh pumpkin make about 2 ¾ cups of pumpkin purée.)

Preparation

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees Celsius.

Wash the pumpkin, pat it dry, cut it in half (not applicable to the Israeli pumpkins), and scrape out the seeds and fibre. No need to peel them off.

Place the pumpkin pieces facing down on a baking tray, and bake them in the oven until soft and cooked through (check with a fork in a couple of places), 35-50 minutes.

Remove from the oven, and let the pumpkin cool for 20 minutes until easily handled. Peel off the skin, transfer the flesh into a colander placed above a bowl, and press the pumpkin with a fork to remove the excess water.

Place the flesh in a food processor, and blend until smooth, about 3 minutes.

If needed to remove more moisture: drain again the pumpkin purée through the colander placed above the bowl but without pressing it – instead let it rest there until completely cooled.

When cooled, keep in the fridge and use within 7 days. I spoon and freeze the pumpkin purée in 1-cup portion into freezer bags. It should lasts 3-6 months in the freezer.