This is exactly how I cook my pumpkins. The only thing I will chime in with is that as long as the pumpkin will fit in your bakind dish, and in your oven, there is no reason to cut it first. Save yourself some fingers, and after puncturing it a few times with a fork, bake it whole until it is tender enough to stab through with a fork. Then allow it to cool before you cut it in half. You will find cutting it to be much easier, and often the stem will pull right off.
FYI - 1 15oz can of pumkin = 1 3/4 cups.
This is the best method for fresh pumpkin that I have found--when it is done baking and after it has cooled a bit you just grab the skin side of the pieces of pumpkin and pinch off the pulp into a bowl. You do need to make sure that you drain off as much water as possible after you puree the pumkin though or your recipies will be too watery. I put mine in a colander lined with cheesecloth and it worked well. I then measured 2 cups of puree and put it in bags and froze them to make recipies later. FYI: Cheese pumpkins are the BEST TASTING baking pumpkins but the small sugar pumpkins work okay too.
If you drain the water left over be sure not to waste it! It makes any bouillon you have more rich and flavorful and contains nutrients from the pumpkin. I wouldn't make soup stock without pumpkins!
Decided to throw a pumpkin I had left over from Halloween into the oven whole for 1 hour at 300 degrees & it worked perfectly. No worries about too much water. Cut it peeled the outer skin peeled away seeds & pith and threw the rest into my food processor to puree. Turned out great!
It's a great way to cook pumpkin. Another method is to cook it in the microwave oven. I cut a medium-sized pumpkin into quarters and cook them one at a time. After it cools enough for handling I spoon the pumpkin off of the skin into a bowl to puree. I then put it into freezer bags 2 cups each for future baking use.:o)
ROTFL oh I love the list of ingredients! You can do this in the oven as suggest or you can steam it if you are doing breads pancakes or pie it's usually best to steam but if you are using it for soup or other foods oven is usually the best. Since it's fall it's pumpkin season and to be honest everyone and I mean everyone should learn how to cook a pumpkin pumpkin is just as versatile as a tomato the possibilities are unlimited you can even make pumpkin enchilada sauce! Cook a pumpkin in the oven with beef stew inside (Heaven be sure to add a turnip to the soup really brings out the flavors!) this is the perfect recipe for everyone to start with... Why are you still reading this? Go cook your pumpkin!
I was REALLY disappointed. This got such rave reviews that I deviated from my regular routine (cut it in half place cut side down in non-stick coated dish and bake-SIMPLE). This turned into a project that last ALL afternoon to end in a soggy time consuming mess! Cutting it into "manageable" pieces was pointless it took twice as long to cook as the recipe called for it ended up soaking up all of the water and since I spent 8 on the organic pumpkins the chunks are in a ziplock bag in my freezer because I was so tired of messing with it.
This was my first time cooking pumpkin and found it very manageable to do. I just found that it was long to cut off the skin off of the small pieces. Otherwise very good. I used the puree to make pumpking bread and it was a success!
