With the arrival of autumn, the greengrocers are once again filled with one of the star vegetables: the pumpkin. Its fantastic color and sweet flavor make it feel like giving it a place in our autumn menu. Its orange meat, in addition to fiber, provides us with vitamins and minerals and very few calories. To encourage you to prepare it, four nutritionists from Alimmenta share their best recipes with pumpkin.
Juana María González, nutritionist and technical director of Alimmenta, begins by explaining a very simple way to turn some pieces of pumpkin into a delicious garnish:
Contents
Baked pumpkin with spices
For baking the pumpkin can be cut into sections or it can be peeled and cut into pieces. Depending on the cut we choose, its cooking temperature can vary between 180 and 200 degrees and its time between 35 and 45 minutes. After placing it on baking sheets, add the spices. Juana offers us her 3 combinations of star spices:
1- Basil and rosemary
2- Anise seeds, 3 or 4 cloves and nutmeg. Crush the spices in the mortar and pour over the pumpkin.
3-Coriander, turmeric and cumin.
After spicing the pumpkin, add a dash of extra virgin olive oil on top and you’re done.
Ideal for low salt diets
When cooked with spices, the pumpkin gets flavor without adding salt, something highly recommended in people who need to control the intake of salt in their diet.
Stuffed pumpkin
Nutritionist Adriana Oroz recommends another way to bake the pumpkin and turn it into a delicious pumpkin stuffed with chickpeas, rice and vegetables. The recipe begins by roasting the squash for 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven. On the other hand, all the vegetables are washed and cut well and then they are sautéed: green pepper, red pepper and onion. While we are sautéing we bring the brown rice to a boil. When the pumpkin is roasted, we remove part of the filling (not all) and that filling is cut and incorporated into the rest of the sauteed vegetables. Add the spices that you like to the stir fry, add the rice and the chickpeas already cooked and cook it all for a few minutes. Finally, we only need to fill the pumpkin. We can put the pumpkin back in the oven for about 5 minutes.
Ideal for vegans and vegetarians
It is a recipe that is prepared only with foods of plant origin but completely balanced, something that makes it perfect for vegans or vegetarians.
Pumpkin lentil stew
The nutritionist Jessica Hierro recommends us to take advantage of the pumpkin to prepare a good lentil stew. She begins by cooking all the ingredients: in a saucepan, cover the pumpkin, lentils, carrots, onion, ground black pepper, garlic and salt with water. The vegetables are incorporated whole, in large pieces. Everything is cooked for approximately 1 h and a quarter. When the lentils are cooked, the cooked vegetables are set aside and crushed. The cream that we obtain is incorporated back into the lentil stew.
Ideal for people little “greengrocers”;)
It is a perfect dish for the cold months that come and it is also ideal for people who find it difficult to include vegetables in their diet. In this way, they practically do not realize that they are including a good portion of vegetables and that, therefore, they are benefiting from all their vitamins and minerals.
Pasta with pumpkin sauce
Nutritionist Laia Gómez proposes a pasta with pumpkin sauce. To prepare it you need a quarter of a pumpkin cut into cubes, which is cooked and crushed. On the other hand, fry an onion with a little oil and when it has already browned, add the crushed pumpkin. Everything is cooked and if the cream becomes too dense you can add a little water. Add a little salt. On the other hand, an integral pasta is cooked and served accompanied by the pumpkin cream.
Ideal for people with gastritis or reflux
It is a perfect dish option for people with gastritis or a tendency to have reflux, who have great alternatives to the classic tomato paste that is often too acidic.
