My hands are scarred. No – not from the war. No – not from hand to paw combat with a mountain lion. They are scarred from years of trying to peel and chop vegetables harder than ripe coconuts. Included are turnips (forever my nemesis, but so delicious with butter and black pepper) butternut squash and pumpkin.
I scoured you tube for easy ways to peel these delicious looking devil vegetables but most featured a sharp knife and elbow grease (hello!!!!! – scarred hands) and some featured products with very questionable health benefits and potential side effects. Needless to say, I had to find another way.
A Change of Perspective
I decided to make pumpkin soup one evening and began the painstaking process of peeling and chopping – much to the disdain of my index fingers. In trying to decide how large to cut the pieces of flesh, it suddenly occurred to me that it didn’t bloody matter! Sure wouldn’t I be whizzing it all up in a blender anyway. This led me to just slice the gourds down the middle and scoop out the guts.
Pumpkins Are Friendlier Once Cooked
Once cooked, the flesh is soft, pliable and can be scooped out with a spoon or cut into cubes and then scooped. It makes a fantastic addition to curry, bolognese or as you will see below, my baked brussel sprout and butternut recipe. For this recipe, I scooped out the flesh and refried it with my brussels. Check out that recipe here. It also makes a wonderful substitute for cheese in Vegan mac n’cheese. That is a recipe I am going to have to share!
You’re Welcome Da’hling
If you discover any other food hacks like this one, please do link them below as I would love to share them!
Always learning and open to new ideas,
Fi x
