halloween came early this weekend.
a good friend, simon, is dating a brazilian woman and friday night they came over and she cooked a traditional brazilian dish called (i think) camaron de abobora. it was one of 2 rare occasions that i was not the one slaving in my own kitchen – highly recommended, i’d say!
the dish involves hollowing out and pre-cooking a large pumpkin. a mix of shrimp/prawns, cilantro, garlic and some other unknown ingredients goes into the hollow and is then baked for a while in the oven. delicious!
after the meal most of the pumpkin was still left over and i was determined not to let it go to waste. we were invited to my friend crystal’s (simon’s ex’s) bon voyage party saturday before she leaves for india , so i used my vitamix (kinda like the rolls royce of blenders and one of the best things i brought with me from l.a.) to blend most of the pumpkin (rind and all) and made a large pot of pumpkin soup which i blended with some of the fresh cilantro/basil/pine nut/garlic and olive pesto i made a few days ago.
when i was a kid, my mom used to make pumpkin fritters and i could never get enough of them. i’ve never tried making them before, but i reserved a few cups of pumpkin mash and did a google search for a recipe. here’s what i found.
pumpkin fritter recipe:
ingredients
- 2 cups cooked mashed pumpkin
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- oil (for frying)
- cinnamon sugar
directions
- Combine pumpkin and egg, stir in flour, cinnamon, baking powder, sugar, salt and juice.
- Heat oil in a shallow pan and drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the oil, fry till golden then turn and do other side, drain on paper towels and serve hot sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.
