Mini pumpkins are a seasonal favorite. Bursting with color and character, they make me smile. I don’t always think to cook with mini pumpkins because I'm usually decorating with them instead. But, when I tried cooking with them I found they were adorable and delicious! I grew the mini pumpkins pictured in this recipe and that made them even more delicious to me.
Mini pumpkins are a seasonal favorite. Bursting with color and character, they make me smile. I don’t always think to cook with mini pumpkins because I'm usually decorating with them instead. But, when I tried cooking with them I found they were adorable and delicious! I grew the mini pumpkins pictured in this recipe and that made them even more delicious to me.
Soooo… I’m a little bit of a lazy gardener. There was a time when I would plant the most elaborate vegetable gardens and commit an hour to tending it at the end of every work day; then, I wised up. There are vegetables you can almost plant and forget- like squash! This past year, I planted five pumpkin varieties, gourds and butternut squash. They can all grow together and intermingle.
Squash attract the most important floral specialists in all of agriculture, *the bees*, which also make me smile. The only bummer is that when you plant multiples of the same crop, you can’t save the seeds for next year since the bees did such a good job of pollinating your squash plants. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can try, but you'll never know what you’re going to get. A friend of mine used seeds from a pumpkin that was grown with zucchini the year prior and grew a super long, orangey/green pumpkin. FUN!
So, back to this recipe. Since I work for a mushroom grower, I put mushrooms in everything. On my way home from working at the office, I often stop at the mushroom farm and hand pick what I want for dinner (kinda spoiled, I know!) For this recipe, I decided I wanted to use portabellas because I knew I wasn’t going to be cooking with meat and I wanted something substantial. Portabellas (aka portabello- curious why? Read more on our brown mushroom web page) give that awesome umami mouthful that satisfies my desire for red meat. Did you know Monterey Mushrooms popularized the portabella back in the 90s? So, for that reason, it’s a favorite of mine.
The toughest part of this recipe is cutting off the top of the pumpkins. You have to be super careful and ensure you have a sharp serrated knife and maybe even a friend for moral support. After you've accomplished that, you're off to the races! HAVE FUN!!