Author Notes: I had a little sugar pie pumpkin I wanted to make purée from, and all the methods I found online involved cutting it in half. This requires a lot of muscle, and I didn’t feel like digging out the chain saw. I thought there had to be better way.
So on a complete lark I tried roasting it whole and it worked and nothing exploded which is always a good thing. —Sadassa_Ulna
Makes: approx. 2 cups purée
Ingredients
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1
Roughly 6″ dia. Sugar Pie Pumpkin, scrubbed clean, stalk intact
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Small shallow baking dish
Directions
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Heat oven to 450 degrees F.
Using the tip of a vegetable peeler – or an apple corer – make four holes at the top near the stalk base. The holes should be 1/2″ in diameter and 1″ deep. -
Place in small shallow baking dish and add water to fill about 1″ deep.
Scrunch a large square of aluminum foil over stalk so it clings to stalk and forms a little umbrella but steam can still escape through holes in top of pumpkin. -
Bake 30 minutes; check water level. Add more if necessary. Bake 30 minutes more.
DO NOT open oven but turn off, leaving pumpkin inside for 3 HOURS. - Pumpkin will still be a little warm after 3 hours but it will cut easily in half. Scoop out seeds first and set aside (for roasting?) The flesh will scoop easily and most likely not need to be puréed in a blender or processor but can be if desired.
- If the purée isnt thick enough place it the roasting pan (rinse out first) and bake in 400 degree oven until reduced to desired consistency.