Four seasonal pumpkin recipes for October – and Halloween

Pumpkins are synonymous with October – their colourful flesh makes a warming soup while their exterior is the ultimate Halloween decoration

Hello yellow: the pumpkin velouté with wild mushrooms by Colin McGurran

Pumpkin velouté with wild mushrooms by Colin McGurran

Pumpkin velouté

1kg pumpkin
100g of butter
10ml of truffle oil
Salt

Wild mushrooms

250g of girolles
Vegetable oil
1 knob of butter
Sea salt
10g of chives, chopped

To serve

Pumpkin seeds, roasted
Truffle, grated

Preheat a water bath to 90C. Begin by preparing the pumpkin for the velouté. Peel the pumpkin and slice it into segments, scraping out and discarding the seeds.

Using a mandoline to finely slice the pumpkin segments, dividing the slices between 2 large vacuum bags. Add the butter, truffle oil and salt evenly to each bag, then seal and cook for 90 minutes​. Remove the cooked pumpkin from the bag and blitz in a blender until smooth and glossy, adding a little water if required. Season again to taste and keep warm until ready to serve.

Wash the mushrooms thoroughly in lots of cold water, drain and dry using a kitchen towel. Use a small knife to peel the skin from the stems, ensuring each mushroom is nice and clean​. Heat a little oil in a frying pan over a high heat and fry the mushrooms until coloured. Add the butter to the pan and season with flaky seasalt, mixing through the chopped chives

Divide two thirds of the mushrooms between five warm bowls and pour the soup on top. Finish with a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds, freshly grated truffle and the remaining mushrooms.

La frittata di zucca by Giulia Scarpaleggia

400g of pumpkin, or butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and thinly sliced into 2cm pieces
2 tbsp of plain flour
2 garlic cloves
4 eggs, lightly beaten
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Place the pumpkin slices into a sealable plastic bag with the plain flour. Seal and shake the bag so that all the slices are evenly coated in the flour. Add a little extra virgin olive oil to a large pan. Lightly crush the whole garlic cloves with the flat side of a large knife and add to the pan. Cook over a medium heat until the garlic turns golden, then add the floured pumpkin slices.

Continue to cook, stirring regularly, until the pumpkin is golden brown and cooked through. Remove the garlic cloves from the pan and season the pumpkin with salt. Season the beaten eggs with salt and pepper then pour over the pumpkin in the pan. Swirl the pan so there is an even layer of egg mixture and prick any air bubbles that appear with a skewer or sharp knife.

Once the bottom has firmed up and started to turn golden, flip the omelette over to cook the other side (it may help to flip the omelette out on to a plate, then slide it back into the pan). Once both sides are firm and golden, tip out onto a serving plate and serve thick slices with some Tuscan bread.

Organic mini pumpkin and ricotta tarts with spiced honey by Tom Aikens

Roast pumpkin

2 organic pumpkins, or 1 large butternut squash
Salt

Spiced honey

250ml of lemon juice
300ml of orange juice
500ml of xeres vinegar
500g of honey
2 garlic cloves, halved
1 piece of fresh ginger, about 5g, sliced
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
12g of salt
12g of mixed spice
7g of cloves
5 slices of orange peel
7g of juniper berries
7g of fennel seeds
3g of cumin seeds
3g of coriander seeds
3g of black peppercorns
1g of smoked paprika
1 pinch of cayenne pepper

Tart bases

250g of puff pastry
1 egg, beaten, to glaze

To assemble

250g of ricotta
1 bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked
30g of parmesan, shaved

Make the spiced honey the day before to give it time to infuse. Place the lemon juice in a small pan over a medium heat and cook down for 5 minutes or until reduced by half. Transfer to a large pan​.

Repeat with the orange juice, then with the sherry so that all 3 are reduced down to intensify their individual flavours before combining in one large pan​. Add the honey and all of the spices to the pan and simmer over a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and allow to infuse for 1 day​.

After this time, strain the infused honey through a fine sieve to remove the spices and store in jars until needed. If storing for longer, ensure the jars are sterilised and then sealed. Preheat the oven to 18C.

Halve your pumpkins (or quarter if they are very large) and remove the seeds. Place in a large baking tray and sprinkle over a good pinch of salt and drizzle over 1-2 tbsp of the spiced honey. Roast in the oven for 45-60 minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender when pierced with a knife. Allow to cool slightly then scoop out the flesh into a pan (this should give about 400g-500g). Add 25g of the spiced honey and another pinch of salt to the pan. Place over a medium heat and cook together for 5-10 minutes until thickened, mashing up the pumpkin as it cooks.

Transfer to a blender and blitz to form a smooth purée. Allow to cool before assembling the tarts. Preheat the oven to 200C. Line two large baking trays with baking paper. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 5mm and cut out 3cm discs with a round pastry-cutter. Place on the lined baking trays and allow to firm up slightly in the fridge for 15 minutes​.

Glaze the chilled pastry with the beaten egg yolk then cover with a sheet of baking paper and place another tray on top to keep the pastry flat. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes until crisp and golden. Cool on a wire rack.

To assemble the tarts, spread 1 tsp of the pumpkin purée over each pastry base. Top with the ricotta, spooning small blobs over the purée and garnish with the fresh thyme leaves and parmesan shavings.

Colwick cheese tortellini with pumpkin velouté by Aaron Patterson

Tortellini

1 egg
4 egg yolks
8g of olive oil
8g of hot water
1.25g of powdered saffron
250g of pasta flour

Pumpkin velouté

1 pumpkin, small, halved
Olive oil
Salt
Back pepper
700ml of chicken stock, or vegetable stock
250g of cream
8g of ground mixed spice
Lemon juice

Colwick cheese and chicken mousse

1 chicken breast, skin removed, diced
2 egg yolks
300g of whipping cream
1 pinch of salt
Back pepper
Cayenne pepper
55g of Colwick cheese
10g of chopped chives

Puffed rice

50g of wild rice
Olive oil, for frying

To serve

Pmpkin seeds, toasted
Siso cress leaves
Nsturtium leaves
55g of Colwick cheese

Begin by making the pasta. Combine the olive oil, saffron powder and hot water in a small bowl and stir until the saffron dissolves. Transfer to a blender along with the egg and egg yolks and blitz until thoroughly combined. Sift the flour onto a clean work surface and make a well in the centre. Pour in the saffron egg mixture and gradually combine with the flour. Knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for 1 hour​.

Preheat the oven to 180C. For the pumpkin velouté, place the pumpkin halves on a baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil and lightly season with salt and pepper. Bake the pumpkin for 40 minutes or until tender.

Also, make the pasta filling. To make the chicken mousse, place the chicken and salt in a blender and blitz for 30 seconds. Add the egg yolks and blend for another 30 seconds, slowly adding the cream while the blender is running. Once all the cream has been added, pour the mixture into a bowl and lightly season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Crumble in the Colwick cheese and chopped chives, mix well and transfer to a piping bag, refrigerating until required.

Warm the stock in a medium saucepan. Scrape out the flesh from the pumpkin and place in a blender, along with the stock and cream and blend until smooth. Add the lemon juice and spice and season generously to taste​. To make the puffed rice, pour 6cm of oil into a medium saucepan and heat to 200C. Deep-fry the wild rice until it puffs up, then remove and leave to drain on kitchen paper.

Using the thinnest setting of a pasta machine, evenly roll out the pasta dough into a large sheet. Cover a large area of work surface with a layer of clingfilm and place the pasta sheet over the top. Cover with another layer of clingfilm and run a cloth over the top to remove any air bubbles and prevent the pasta drying out.

Pull back a section of the clingfilm and cut out discs of pasta using a 10cm cutter. Pipe even quantities of the pasta filling into the middle of each circle, then dust your fingers lightly with flour and fold the pasta into a semi circle shape, pressing the layers together to seal.

Pick up the pasta parcels and gently press the centre, bending the edges around your finger to form a tortellini shape. Repeat this process with the remaining pasta, dusting each piece of tortellini with flour to prevent it drying out.

When ready to serve bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Carefully add the tortellini to the pan and cook 4-5 minutes. To serve, ladle the pumpkin velouté into bowls and place the tortellini in the centre, Garnish with the puffed rice, shiso cress, nasturtium and pumpkin seeds. Crumble over the remaining Colwick cheese and serve immediately.

For more pumpkin recipes, visit greatbritishchefs.com