Savory Pumpkin Custard
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
It’s Pumpkin Time
I’m still here – just took off some much needed time to take care of family members, relatives and the person I look at in the mirror every morning. Sometimes that person can be such a handful, requiring a respite from terminal concerns and overworked emotions. Enough said! Hey, it’s pumpkin season, and there’s something sensual about them – I’m not exactly sure what it is. All I know is that like a child awaiting her birthday, pumpkin season sends me into an exhausting rapture.
The local pumpkin farmer knows me on a first name basis even though we only see each other twice a year; once when I buy the pumpkins, and second, when I return the ones used as adornments on the verandah. Those pumpkins are then shuffled off to the local organic pig farmer to be used as feed. We like to keep it all in the family here on Cali’s Central Coast. My grandmother had a thing for pumpkins, too. She would add them to her stews, pot roasts and they would end up in the tastiest empañadas on earth.
I have whipped a wonderful recipe which celebrates the savory side of this glorious squash.
Buno Appetitio
yo,PASTA MAMA
SAVORY PUMPKIN CUSTARD
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups cooked pumpkin
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup organic chicken stock
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onions
1/2 tsp. ginger powder
Kosher salt and fresh black pepper to taste
6 ramekins
Sauté onions with butter and ginger until the onions are translucent. Add to other ingredients and beat all together. Pour into ramekins. Place the filled ramekins into a large baking pan. Pour enough boiling water in pan to come halfway up the ramekins’ sides. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then at 300 degrees for about 45 minutes or until center of custard is cooked.
Serve warm.
Makes 6 custards.
