With the arrival of autumn, the greengrocers fill up again with one of the star vegetables: the pumpkin. Its fantastic color and sweet taste make it very desirable to make room for it 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:
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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 arranging it in baking trays, the spices are added. Juana proposes her 3 star spice combinations:
1- Basil and rosemary
2- Anise seeds, 3 or 4 cloves and nutmeg. The spices are crushed in the mortar and poured over the pumpkin.
3-Coriander, turmeric and cumin.
After spicing the pumpkin, add a drizzle 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 for people who need to control the amount of salt in their diet.
Stuffed pumpkin
The nutritionist Adriana Oroz recommends another way to bake the pumpkin and turn it into a delicious pumpkin filled with chickpeas, rice and vegetables. The recipe begins by roasting the pumpkin for 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven. On the other hand, all the vegetables are washed and cut well and then sautéed: green pepper, red pepper and onion. While we are sautéing them, we put the brown rice to 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 sautéed vegetables. We add the spices that we like to the sauté, add the cooked rice and chickpeas and cook it all for a few minutes. Finally, we only need to fill the pumpkin. We can return the pumpkin to 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 who follow a vegetarian diet .
Lentil stew with pumpkin
The nutritionist Jessica Hierro recommends that we take advantage of the pumpkin to prepare a good lentil stew. She begins by cooking all the ingredients: in a pot, the pumpkin, lentils, carrots, onion, ground black pepper, garlic and salt are covered with water. The vegetables are incorporated whole, in large pieces. Everything is cooked for approximately 1 hour and a quarter. When the lentils have cooked, the cooked vegetables are set aside and mashed. 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 arrive 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, sauté 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 thick you can add a little water. A little salt is added. On the other hand, a wholemeal 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 are great to have alternatives to the classic tomato pasta that is usually too acidic.
