About a week ago a friend of ours, who sells pumpkins in all the western states, gave us two giant pumpkins and one for eating. Mind you, I've never been one to cook my own pumpkin for pumpkin pie, etc. But the story he told us intrigued me and I did a little research on it. He said this particular variety of pumpkin was selling very well due to the Hispanic market. Calabaza is pumpkin in spanish. It turns out, it's a specialty item that they use to make candy and treats. The flesh on the Calabaza is finer and creamier than your run of the mill pumpkin/jack o lantern, and since I got mine for free (they normally sell for about $25) I decided to take a "culinary adventure". For no other reason than that I really love dulce de leche, I decided to try dulce de Calabaza! (which by the way, was the most common use for calabaza)
I perused many web pages with recipes for dulce de calabaza.....every one basically similar, but a tad different from the next. Following the intructions, I hacked and carved my way thru the calabaza. I needed 1x1 1/2" pieces and some unrefined cane sugar. I found the sugar at the local market in the mexican food section. Some of the recipes said you could substitute regular brown sugar....don't try that, those turned out...well, icky! To make a long story short.....you have to really LOVE this stuff for all the effort it takes to make it. I soaked the pieces overnight in lime water, then in the morning, drain/rinse, drain/rinse, repeat. Cook at a boil for 5 mins. Let drain for 1 hour, then after coating them with a "slurry" of water dampened sugar, I placed them in a glass 9x13.
Well, the calabaza begins to 'weep' and the sugar coating gets watery...hmmmm. Didn't look too appetizing at this point :/. Into a 300 degree oven for 3 hours they go. Surprisingly, they looked better as they baked. They come out a dark caramel color, with the same caramel flavor mixed with an undertone of....what else? .....pumpkin. Let them air dry on parchment and then roll in more sugar. Either I did something wrong, or the appeal of these escapes me. They are sweet, sweet, sweet. Will I ever make these again? Nuh uh.
On the flip side, I wanted to use the remainder of the calabaza on a savory dish. I chose Pastelon de Calabaza, or "savory pumpkin pie". The dish is similar to what we are familiar with as hamburger pie, only the hamburger is prepared mexican style with chili, olives, tomatoes, etc. The recipe says to mash the cooked calabaza like you would potatoes and layer it on the bottom of a 9x13, with the hamb. combo in the middle and more calabaza on the top with cheddar cheese. I only got as far as the mashed calabaza part and how you have to add an egg and flour to "improve the texture". I did as instructed and when I asked my taste tester (Les) what he thought of the mashed calabaza....I got a thumbs down. Sigh. No sense wasting a pound of hamburger!
The cows and goats sure do like mashed calabaza though!! They all have orange smiles.
1 comment:
So very sad! But if you aren't partial to squash or pumpkin, it's hard to find any dish that will satisfy the palate. Jerry will only eat the squash stuff if it's soup. I make a creamed butternut squash soup that goes over well with everyone I've served it to. Jerry will even take seconds! But the same squash haters won't even touch the sweetened squash recipes. But I love them. I wish I could've tried the sweet thingers. They sound interesting. You should've just taken them to church potluck. Someone probably would've liked them. (smile)
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