Pumpkin sauce take 2

 

 Take #2 on pumpkin sauce. 

Changed from the previous.  The mushrooms I left out which kept the color from browning - though you can see I still added the mushrooms and broccoli to go with it in the end.  I left out the onion and paprika.  I changed the spices a bit and made it more reminiscent of pumpkin pie.  Also thined out a bit with water and almond milk.   Better, and again - I ate and enjoyed this in a variety of ways - but not quite perfect yet. 

 

Servings: 5  (108g or 3/4 cup)

Calories: 65

Nutrition: Carb 10g, Protein 2g, Fat 1g

 Ingredients

2 cup pumpkin puree

6T (3/8 cup) sour cream 

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/2 cup water

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Combine pumpkin, milk, water and sour cream in sauce pan over low heat and bring to a simmer.   Add remaining ingredients and cook at a low simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.

Pumpkin Sauce Take 1 - Mushroom Stroganoff

 I am obsessed (yes, obsessed is really the right word) with pumpkin.  And apples.  But really pumpkin.  On a trip to pick up lettuce and apples (yes, the apples) I came home with lettuce, apples, pumpkin yogurt, pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin salsa and just plain pumpkin.  The next task is figuring out what I'm going to do with the ton (not literally this time) of pumpkin I have collected...  

My current challenge is coming up with a decent pumpkin sauce.  I had mushrooms and sour cream which usually prompts me to make a mushroom stroganoff which was the initial inspiration for this.  I ate it.  I enjoyed it.  But there is much room for improvement so I wouldn't use this for more than a jumping off point. I imagine most people would enjoy this much more over rice or pasta - I'm not eating either so what you're looking at is mushrooms in a pumpkin stroganoff (-ish) sauce over pureed broccoli "rice" (really just raw broccoli, chopped, 'pulverized' in the food processor and steamed briefly just to heat; I like the barely cooked 'crunch').   

 

Servings: 2

Calories: 109  

Nutrition: Carb 18g, Protein 10g, Fat 2g

 Ingredients

1 medium cooking onion thinly sliced (~110g)

16 oz Mushrooms, quartered (any will work I used 1/2 baby bellos & 1/2 standard white)

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 T sour cream

 To make:

1. Add onions to saute pan and cook slowly over medium heat.  When beginning to turn translucent add mushrooms to pan. * Note: I don't generally use butter, margarine, spray, oil, etc to saute vegetables though you certainly can. 

2. When mushrooms soften add remaining ingredients to the pan.  Cook for additional 5-10 minutes to thicken and serve.  

This sauce isn't bad but it is a bit bland. I added more spice when I revisited this and added some almond milk to thin it out a bit.  Cooking with the mushrooms/onions seemed to dull the pumpkin flavor but if you have a stroganoff where the tomato taste isn't overwhelming anyway substituting the pumpkin is probably a reasonable option as long as you're not expecting the pumpkin flavor to dominate.   Take #2 coming shortly...