Anne Can Cook

Last weekend, when Andrew and I went to the orchard, I bought a pumpkin. Not a Jack-o-Lantern sized pumpkin. I bought a small, 4-5 pound little pumpkin.
And I must be crazy, because my intention was to cook it. Which is exactly what I did.

Anne Can Cook Presents: How to make your own pumpkin puree in 8 sort of easy steps.

Step One:
Halve the pumpkin
It doesn't have to be perfect.

Step Two: Scoop out the seeds.
I am suffering here from what Pioneer Woman would call Purple Alien Hand Syndrome. Anyway, I scooped the seeds out (for roasting!) with my hands. It is sort of like when you comb your hair with fingers, only much slimier.

Step Three: Scrape off the slimy stuff.
A good, old-fashioned spoon should do the trick. When you're done, you're left with this:
Step Four: Cut into manageable chunks.

May your knife be sharp and your muscles sturdy. This is where the "sort of" easy comes into play. Cutting up a pumpkin is intense work, particularly if you're a wuss with a knife of questionable durability (like me). I made it through, though, and so can you.

Step Five: Cut your manageable chunks into even smaller chunks.
Like this.
Yes, they have their skins still on in the pot. Trust me here.

Step Six: Boil that biz.

I boiled them for about an hour, and then dumped them in the colander.

Step Seven: Cut off the skin.
The pumpkin's tough skin comes off much easier once the flesh is soft. I used a butter knife to separate the skin from the flesh. How particular you want to be is up to you.

Step Eight: It's pureeing time!
Before.
After.
The pumpkin was really soft, so a few pulses with my hand blender more than did the trick. A food processor would be wonderful, or you can do things the old-fashioned way and use a potato masher. Whatever floats your boat.
Once everything is smooth, you can use the pumpkin right away or you can freeze it. I froze about 2/3 of and am reserving the rest in the fridge for a pumpkin curry later this week.

Ultimately, here is the deal with pumpkin: it is a real pain in the butt to prepare a pumpkin for pureeing. However, it does make a person feel immensely accomplished.