“I have no idea what to do with it, so if you want, please take it!” said my mum to me, pointing at the orange pumpkin they were keeping in the cellar. Apparently they got it from some friends from the eastern part of the country, where pumpkins are grown massively – not only for feeding pigs but lately mainly for the production of the precious pumpkin seed oil, or bučno olje in Slovene, a delicacy to be found in Slovenia and Austria, in the region we both share (we call it Štajerska, Austrians call it Steiermark).

I was glad to take the little orange head with me – I’ve never cooked with pumpkin before and so this was a great opportunity for me to learn something new. I’ve read a ton of things people do with squashes and it’s just amazing: here in Slovenia we’ve just started discovering them and they are now far more appreciated than they used to be before, mostly for their numerous health benefits.

My pumpkin weighed 1 kilo. I decided to use half for a savory meal and a half for a dessert. I made gnocchi for the main meal and flan for the dessert. Today I will tell you about the flan. As you know, flan is a classic  Spanish egg-and-milk dessert, cooked in water bath. We both adore it. Juanpi doesn’t like it too much if I experiment with it, yet that doesn’t stop me to tweak the recipe from time to time. Last year I made sweet potato flan -which was absolutely delicious- and so I thought, that recipe could work for pumpkin flan as well.

I didn’t peel the pumpkin because there was no need for this, the skin was so thin that there was no problem to use it. Also, I watched a couple of videos of Jamie Oliver cooking with pumpkin and he says peeling it would be a big pity. Of course, there are types of squashes with hard skin that definitely need peeling.
I opted for steaming the pumpkin because I like to steam food. I could have as well boiled it, I suppose.

PUMPKIN FLAN WITH MAPLE SYRUP AND PUMPKIN SEEDS
(for 3 ramekins)

Ingredients:
500g pumpkin, washed, sliced, the core with seeds discarded
150ml cream (I used oat cream)
3 large eggs
75g blond cane sugar
a pinch of salted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
oil for ramekins
for serving: maple syrup and a handful of roasted pumpkin seeds, coarsely chopped

1. Steam the pumpkin pieces until soft – they will look translucent once cooked

2. Puree the pumpkin with a pinch of salt and set aside.

3. Beat the eggs together with sugar, add cinnamon, pumpkin puree and cream. Do not over-stir.

4. Pour the pumpkin preparation into oiled ramekins and transfer them in an oven-proof dish, filled with water. Cook in the preheated oven (150ºC) for 1 hour. Cover with aluminum foil if you notice the top browning too fast. Turn off the oven and let flan inside for additional 10-15′, then let cool at room temperature.

5. Unmould the flan by running the blade of a knife around its border, turning the ramekin upside-down on a prepared plate. Serve with good quality maple syrup and with some chopped pumpkin seeds.

I chose maple syrup as an alternative to caramel and roasted pumpkin seeds as a crunchy kick to the flan. Overall, it makes one healthy dessert and I loved how the cinnamon complemented the pumpkin flavor.

In my next post, I will tell you more about delicious pumpkin gnocchi!