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Pumpkin recipe
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More than Halloween horror

Autumn is pumpkin time

Not just a colourful decoration for Halloween, but also on the plate, it is hard to imagine autumn without this giant vegetable.

As soon as the leaves begin to turn yellow, red and brown in late summer, pumpkins have their permanent place in restaurants and community catering. For good reason: boiled, roasted or baked, they not only look good as a side dish, in risottos or curries, as an oven vegetable or soup. Thanks to their high water content they are also low in calories and an are important source of vitamins, minerals such as potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron and satiating fibre. The roasted seeds, which are also used to produce pumpkin seed oil, are also popular as a snack. The shoot tips, flowers and leaves of the plants can be used in a variety of ways in the kitchen.

In 2020, almost 29 million tonnes of pumpkin were harvested worldwide, a good quarter of it in China. India, Russia. Ukraine and the USA are also major pumpkin producers. The pumpkin family comprises about 800 varieties. The most popular edible pumpkins include the nutty-tasting butternut squash, the spicy nutmeg squash, the particularly aromatic Hokkaido squash or the Yellow Centner. The so-called spaghetti squash with its stringy flesh can even be used as a substitute for spaghetti.

In the snack business, pumpkin and its seeds score points in autumn on sandwiches or as finger food that can be prepared in no time at all in the Welbilt Merrychef. "The advantage of preparing pumpkin in the Merrychef is that you don't have to cook it first," explains Burkhard Finkeldey, Application Consultant at Welbilt Germany. "Thinly sliced, it is ready in a few minutes in our quick cooking systems such as the new Merrychef ConneX." The professional observes that the range of pumpkin dishes in the snack segment is still expandable: "All the more reason for restaurateurs to stand out from the competition here with creative ideas and serve their customers something special."

For example, a quick tarte flambée with pumpkin, pear and gorgonzola:

  1. Cut a Hokkaido pumpkin, red onions and pear into fine slices
  2. Spread them on a wrap or tarte flambée dough
  3. Add bacon, pumpkin seeds and gorgonzola as desired
  4. Bake in the Merrychef for just 1 minute 45.

The great thing about pumpkin is that it not only tastes good, but it is always an eye-catcher too, thanks to its vibrant colours," says Burkhard Finkeldey, summing up the strengths of this power vegetable.