Pumpkin Destruction

The other day, the Sous Chef brought this home:

Lots.  Of.  Squash.

I told him earlier in the week (perhaps a little too gruffly), "You know, you're supposed to bring home extra produce from your garden so we don't have to go and buy it at the grocery store.  Shouldn't you have lots of pumpkins and stuff by now?"

I guess I asked for it.

After seeing this haul, I ran to my computer and searched through the blogs I read for recipes that involve pumpkin and/or winter squash.  I came up with tons of great hits, and I couldn't wait to try them.

We decided to dismantle just one of the beauties, the Long Island Cheese pumpkin:

Of course, when you aren't getting your pumpkin out of a can or the freezer aisle, a little extra work goes in to it:

Don't mind the Sous Chef's winter hat - it was a cold day and we refuse to turn on the heat until absolutely necessary.

After the Sous Chef gutted the pumpkin, it was time for a little shave:

After that, I kicked him out of the kitchen and set to work boiling the pumpkin flesh (wow, that sounds barbaric, doesn't it?).  Two huge stock pots full of boiling water, and it still wasn't enough room for my plethora of orange cubes.  I had to cycle through boiling, straining, adding more pumpkin to the water, squeezing the pumpkin through a sieve...

You know those old movies where they show the servants laundering the linens in the basement with those big aprons on, using a large wooden paddle to swish the cloth through huge vats of boiling water?  That's how I felt.

But oh, was it worth it.  Using the flesh from just one pumpkin, I was able to make:

The Realistic Nutritionist's Bacon, Roast Squash, and Goat Cheese Pasta

The Smart Cookie Cook's Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

Food and Thrift's Savory Butternut Squash Tart

and Greek Yogurt & Apple Slice's Pumpkin Gingerbread!

PLUS, I had the equivalent of three cans' worth of pumpkin left over!  I divided it into three Ziploc bags and popped them in the freezer.

Now if I could only think of what to do with the other five squashes...

Eat well.