Rustic Pumpkin Hummus

Since my adventures with the jarrahdale from the Mt. Pleasant Farmers' Market has left me with a few extra cups of fleshy orange tastiness, I decided to engage the mounting autumn with some savory pumpkin hummus. Most people throw their garbanzos into a food processor to get a smooth, creamy hummus, but I like some lumps in my mashed potatoes and some texture to my bean dips. Instead of blending everything into a consistent paste, I used a potato masher to pulverize my beans and let the pumpkin puree play the 'creamy' role. Leaving a few semi-whole beans brings out the chickpeas' nuttiness, thus the "rustic" component of this recipe. If you like smooth hummus, by all means puree away.

To prep the pumpkin for this recipe, I peeled it, skinned it, and steamed for about 8 minutes (until it was fork tender), then dropped the chunks into a food processor until smooth. I haven't tried any of my pumpkin recipes with canned pumpkin puree, but I imagine they'd be equally tasty.

I use dried garbanzo beans, cooked on the stove rather than canned. If you're using canned, go ahead and double the recipe to use your whole can of chickpeas.

Rustic Pumpkin Hummus Recipe

1 cup garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon tahini
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
dash of ginger powder
salt to taste

Using a potato masher, or in the bowl of a food processor, mash the garbanzo beans to desired consistency. Add the pumpkin puree, tahini, and extra virgin olive oil, and mix well. Add seasoning and let stand a few hours to let the flavors blend. I topped mine with a bit of chopped parsley that I had on hand.

Makes about 6 servings (1/4 cup each).

Nutrition estimate per serving: Calories 76.6. Total fat 3g. Saturated fat .4g. Total carbohydrates 10.6g. Dietary fiber 2.2g. Protein 2.6g.

Pedantic Pumpkin

Aside from opening a can, scooping out some pumpkin, and dropping it into a pie crust, or carving a misshapen face into a pumpkin-patch-pumpkin, I haven't had much interaction with the fruit.

There seems to be controversy over pumpkins, much like tomatoes, as to whether or not they are a fruit or vegetable. My mother told me that fruits have reproductive seeds inside, and since she's a published horticulturist I'll take her word for it.

Whatever the orange globe is, it's tasty. I've always been a fan of pumpkin pie, but was excited to see pumpkins I'd never laid eyes on before at the Mt. Pleasant Farmers' Market here in DC. These weren't orange, or yellow, or even green like the acorn squash I'd seen. No surrreeh, I found the most bizarre grey, lopsided pumpkin I'd ever seen and asked, "is this one really only 1$ per pound?"



I'll admit, shoving the pumpkin into my messenger bag to bike was a challenge, but the online journey to discover which pumpkin I'd actually purchased was half the joy. Jarrahdale pumpkins, or Cucurbita maxima, originally from New Zealand is very firm, not too stringy, and has beautiful grey skin. Check out this great pumpkin identification site if you too have a mystery squash.

Over the next few days I'll post a few rewarding pumpkin experiments. The first thing I learned is that baking pumpkin to prep it for recipes is a total waste of time and energy. Instead of roasting your pumpkin in the oven, peel it, chop it, and steam it until fork-tender in 8 minutes rather than the hour long gas investment of running the oven. The second thing I learned is that pumpkin is darn versatile...

Lactose Intolerant

I'm Phoebe: a creative, a cyclist, a Californian, and a cook. Unfortunately I'm also a lactard - a term appropriated from Dan - or a lactose retard. Hold on there offended guy, retarded means "delayed," "slower," or "held back."

While searching for recipes sans dairy I found there aren't really food blogs dedicated to serving the lactose intolerant some tasty treats: vegan, vegetarian, raw, gluten free, low sugar, low calorie, low fat, nutless... I found all of them had an abundance of literature online, but could source next to nothing about lactose intolerance other than searching for specific recipes. I'm an omnivore that likes good food; why isn't there a blog for just being lactose intolerant? Deprived of the joys of cheese, butter, milk, ice cream, and dairy in general, (did I mention cheese or butter?) is quite enough. Whether you, your children, or your spouse is lactose intolerant, you still deserve to have tasty food and enjoy all your recreational eating.

This blog is brand new, so keep checking back for more lactoseless recipes for all you other lactards out there.

Blog Index

Zucchini Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin Butter
Lactose Free Bicycle Bars (Energy Bars)
Pumpkin Apple Breakfast Muffins
Rustic Pumpkin Hummus