PUMPKIN PANNA COTTA…Pumpkin Spice & All Things Nice!

“Ask not what your Pumpkin can do for you,
ask what you can do for your pumpkin!”

I walked into the bazaar the other morning to come face to face with a very excited vegetable vendor. He knows my glee at any new veggie or fruit that shows up locally, & always picks a few good ones & saves them for me. He was waiting with something new which he called Chinese ‘kaddu’ or Chinese pumpkin. It’s strange, but most new veggies that appear seem to bear a generic China name. The large garlic we use is referred to as China garlic & now this pumpkin too. I think it’s a local way of increasing sales of something new…it works on me! I loved the idea of these little pumpkins, cute & pretty. With the West leaving fall way behind, the leaves are falling here in our part of the world, & spring is kind of here. Our seasons are different from other countries, & so is our fresh produce. We get the best of the seasons tomatoes, strawberries etc in the winter here, & it is indeed a season we in North India can’t wait for. So I hurried home with my pumpkin booty, googled, got to a Washington Times post on pumpkin puree. Easy-peasy & ready in about 30 minutes, scooped out & all. How cool is that? The other thing demanding my attention was a box of pumpkin pie spice that my sis sent for me from Houston. YAY…a chance to use that too, thanks to the precious pumpkin!! Pie wasn’t on my mind; strangely I was thinking pumpkin panna cotta. Was also wondering how the kids would take to pumpkin… Thought I’d check out the net, set out hesitatingly. Yes, something like a pumpkin panna cotta did exist! That decided, I set off to make the puree. Here’s the recipe for making puree from scratch, taken from this Washington Post feature here.

“Making puree has only one real hurdle: Ideally, the pumpkin must be cut in half. I don’t expect to accomplish that in a single stroke. Using a large, heavy knife, I make one cut into the pumpkin. If I’m lucky, that cut will gain me enough leverage to pry the squash in two. (Sometimes I have to make a second cut to get a longer opening. I then use the knife to begin to split the pumpkin in half, and I finish the break using my hands.) If the split of the pumpkin isn’t perfect, you can trim the halves so they will sit flat in the pan. If the pumpkin has broken into several pieces, that’s okay. Next, use a big spoon to remove the seeds from the pumpkin halves. Line a large roasting pan with aluminum foil. Place the halves or pieces, flat side down, in the pan; add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan. Transfer to a 350-degree oven and bake until the flesh is easily pierced with a fork. Depending on the size of the pumpkin, that can take anywhere from 45 to 75 minutes. Let the pumpkin cool, then flip the halves over and scrape the flesh away from the skin. Puree the flesh in a food processor until smooth.”

PUMPKIN PANNA COTTA
recipe adapted from The New York Times
Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (1 tbsp)
2 cups light 25% cream
1 cup pureed pumpkin, (you can use squash or sweet potato)
1/2 cup sugar (increase if required)
2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon powder)
Method:
  • Put 1/2 cup of the milk in a 6- or 8-cup saucepan, and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let sit for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, blend together the cream, pumpkin, sugar and pumpkin pie spice. The mixture should be perfectly smooth, so it is best to use a blender.
  • Turn the heat under the saucepan to low, and cook the milk, stirring occasionally, until the gelatin dissolves. Pour in the cream mixture, and turn the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until steam rises. Turn off the heat, and ladle or pour the mixture into 8 4-ounce ramekins or other containers.
  • Chill the panna cotta until firm, and serve, with creme fraiche or whipped cream if you like.
  • I topped the chilled panna cotta with a thinned chocolate ganache & caramel mixture, a dusting of pumpkin pie spice & vanilla sugar.
  • YIELD 8 servings

Pumpkin pairings Pumpkin is a good companion with many flavors including apples, bourbon and rum, caramel, cinnamon, cloves, raisins, coconut, honey, maple syrup, pecans and vanilla. Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce teams the winter gourd with several of those tastes.
Caramel sauce is sold in jars but making it from scratch requires just three ingredients and only a few more minutes to put together. Butter, dark brown sugar and cream mingle in a sauce pan until the sugar melts and a rich sauce develops. If you are thinking of cooking a fresh pumpkin for a dessert recipe, don’t. It takes quite a bit of time (chopping, seeding, boiling, scraping) and you’re likely to be unhappy with the results. The cooked pumpkin probably will be watery and less flavorful than its concentrated canned counterpart. Pumpkins, just like all nature’s bounty, are not created equal.

The result was deliciously wicked, creamy & SATISFYING! Am so glad I tried it. The kids loved it too. So it’s being shared at “the huge tables set under twisting grapevines, Italian food and drink from one end to the other, laughing, singing, and dancing, while the sound of mandolins playing in the background, of course without a doubt Sinatra and Dino too” that Marie @ Proud Italian Cook & Maryann @ Finding La Dolce Vita are promising at their 2nd annual Festa Italiana!! Will you be there??

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

Published by

Deeba @ PAB

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

41 thoughts on “PUMPKIN PANNA COTTA…Pumpkin Spice & All Things Nice!”

  1. Adorable chinese pumpkins! They look mighty sweet and tasty too! I love the idea of pumpkin panna cotta. A creative twist on a delicious dessert. Gorgeous shots, very dreamy!

    Reply

  3. I’m not surprised that your kids wolfed them down, looks amazing – and caramel on the top is genius!
    Good one Deeba.

    Reply

  4. Those ‘kaddu’ pumpkins look really good Deeba. I don’t know about your kids wolfing down those pumpkin panna cotta I would if I was there too – they look superb ;0)

    Rosie x

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  5. what an interesting dessert and I was just searching for recipes with pumpkin 🙂 is steamed pumpkin good for this recipe or it must be roasted . canned pumpkin is not produced here.

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  6. Deeba that is absolutely adorable. And how lucky for you to have a vendor looking out for you! So wonderful!

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  8. Dear Deeba!!! Is absolutely lovely and nice!! You always amazing me dear!! Look delicious. I hope to make something to Festa Italiana because I love so Marie and Maryann!! and love Italian food!! xxGloria

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  10. Oh Deeba, I was hoping you’d bring a panna cotta, because you are the queen!! Thank you so much for joining us this year sweetie!
    xox, Marie

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  13. There are in fact Chinese yellow pumpkins 🙂 I made erissery and posted it recently, its exactly the same and was available during Chinese new year time.

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  16. I have had much success cooking my own pumpkin for desserts. I love fresh pumpkin. Your panna cotta looks so scrumptious, especially with homemade caramel!

    Reply

  21. Panna Cotta with pumpking is a definitely “hatke” recipe, Deeba.
    I used to find this variety in the supermarkets back in Cochin and they were known as “disco” pumpkins for some reason I can’t figure out!!

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  22. looks absolutely heavenly as usual, and nice attempt with pumpkin, have never tried panna cotta with pumpkins; lovely!

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  23. Your panna cotta looks wonderful and so do your garnishes. Very pretty.

    Glad you are attending the Italian fiesta. I sent my dish yesterday and I’ll see you there.
    Sam

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  24. I’m not a pumpkin fan but this would totally change my mind! Beautiful to look at and, I’m sure, delicious to taste.

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  26. The glass-full wt lovely heart n pumpkin for a dessert–oh totally awesome..liked the new method(is water supposed to b in the tray along wt down facing halved pumpkins?) I hv bought these for curry only..never tried anything sweet wt them! EVER!! This is something U rightly said..I shall try!

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  29. OMG! You just keep creating one masterpiece after the other! I love this recipe, and of course, the display, photos, everything!!!

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  33. Wow yum! That’s such a beautiful creative dessert. We’re starting to get new autumn pumpkins in Australia now, so I’ll have to make some pumpkin desserts too. This one will be on my list.

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  34. Wow, I’m glad the kids liked it! Pumpkin in desserts is uncommon in my country but it’s a huge deal here in the States, huh? Well, I can see why 🙂

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  38. Hi, Deeba. Did you mean to submit this for the Feb Eating with the seasons? That would be fine, yes. Let me know when you’ve done it so I can add you to the round-up.

    Reply

  41. Hi Deeba, yes, you can submit it for March Eating with the Season. Sorry for the delay in replying!

    Take care,

    Maninas

    Reply

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