Lee Moody

Pumpkin harvest

Authored

There's so much news from the allotment! Today, pumpkin chat.

I harvested three Crown Prince pumpkins this time last month. One is stored in a cold-frame at the allotment, one is sat behind me all day as I work in the loft, and a third has a Sharpie face and its mutilated remains live in our fridge.

Three handsome blue-ish-green pumpkins sit on a sunny woodchip path.
12th October: Three Crown Prince pumpkins.
A pumpkin with Halloween-style face drew on with marker. It's friendly and menacing. It sits on a wooden chopping board, with a big wedge cut out.
3rd November: Halloween pumpkin becomes dinner.
Pumpkin half-moons in a baking tray.
Baking some for later.

A small centre means a lot of fruit. Over 4kg from the smallest. I've been making curry, and pie, and pasta dishes, and eating it in sandwiches, and even baking it in bread.

A Malai Kari. A coconut and sauce with spiced, roasted pumpkin on top, and a side of pita (close enough). All garnished with coriander. A glass of red wine and stray shed building instructions which I left out complete the picture.
Pumpkin curry – Meera Sodha’s Malai Kari (East). Stray shed instructions.
A little portion of pumpkin pie on a plate. This is my breakfast portion, there's a mug of coffee too, with Nikkei's denshiba and the FT's Origami logo.
Pumpkin pie. Denshiba/Origami.
A rustic pumpkin tart, with cursed looking pastry Halloween pumpkin topper.
With leftover ingredients, I made cursed pumpkin tarts – delicious with ice cream.
A tin loaf of bread, with an unusual but attractive orange hue and pumpkin seeds.
Pumpkin bread, using left-over sweet pumpkin pie purée.

Here are some culinary notes:

  • The pumpkin bread was sadly under baked, adding pumpkin requires a longer bake to usual. I could tell when I took it out but didn't trust my instincts / couldn't be bother to swap it back out with the pumpkin rounds. Mistake. Because the edible edges were next level.
  • Meera Sodha’s curry I loved, 10/10 would make again. Next time I'll increase the tomato and decrease the coconut, which will suit both our tastes more.
  • On the pie/tarts, it was my first attempt at making sweet shortcrust pastry. Given that, they turned out pretty great, if I do say so myself. Pumpkin pie wouldn't be my first choice of sweet treat, but it's really grown on me massively. Especially with ice cream.

We still have some leftover punpkin curry frozen, the two bigger pumpkins, and more of the original to go. What to make next? Leave a comment. Like and subscribe.

The original pumpkin is mostly eaten, but the wedge with its drawn face sits in our fridge veg crisper – looking out, watching.
A pumpkin greeting me as I open the fridge for morning oat milk.

I've struggled to get to the allotment recently, especially with reduced light curtailing the evening. Mostly I'm trying to tidy up and get manure on to protect the ground over winter.

Leaving my fleece and fleece alternative exposed and unprotected all year was a mistake. Sticking it in the washing machine without shaking it out or pre-washing somehow was an even bigger mistake. Ooooopsss. Weeknote 90: CLR FLTR 🙈

There's still new growth, however. We harvested a cauliflower (more like romanesco?) from the mixed patch of brassica surprise. And the cavolo nero is still giving too.

Green, lots of green, and a greenish cauliflower floret.
12th November: Mixed cauliflower, brassica surprise.
12th November: Cavolo nero; brassica surprise; cavolo nero.

We might be enjoying cabbage, leek, and the odd mooli come spring if the frost isn't too hard and the slugs stay off. The mooli are small, the cabbage is quite eaten, and the leeks are pretty flopped and sad. Fingers crossed! Keep an eye out for updates.

One thing that is doing well in this little patch is rocket! It's gone to flower and seed but to my surprise, I'm still enjoying the leaves.

12th November: Strawberries; spring cabbage; leek; rocket; mooli.

A wild dog appears! She was very skittish and wouldn't let me near her collar long enough to retrieve her owner's number. By taking a deceptively ambivalent posture, and with the help of a strategic little snack, I was able to keep her close until I heard her owner calling just a few plots down.

A dog stands on a bare vegetable patch, one half freshly manured. It stands alert, looking away from camera, with her cute little high-vis vest.
12th November: Dog.