Smashing pumpkins

In the run up to Halloween, pumpkins are in season and perfect for eating, cooking and decorating. Darina Allen tells us about their versatility

I'm a hopeless photographer but occasionally I get the urge to grab my camera. Today the impulse was irresistible when I saw our gardener Eileen O'Donovan manoeuvring a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins and squash up from the greenhouse. A myriad of shapes and sizes – Little Gem and Crookneck squash, Hubbard, Turk's Turban, Acorn, Delicata, Butternut squash, several huge pumpkins, a few Jack o'Lanterns' and a mixture of curvaceous gourds.

We grow a wide variety each year both in the gardens and the greenhouses. They are prolific croppers and are multi-purpose in their use, a joy not only for the cook but a boon to the florist, interior designer and the food stylist. We pile them high on the window sills, along the shelves and mantelpiece, and build them into wonderful knobbly pyramids in the centre of the dining room and on the serving tables. They look stunning sitting on the crimson leaves of Virginia Creeper or Actinidia Kolomikta. The cookery school looks as though it is decked out for a Thanksgiving celebration.

Despite consulting several sources, I'm still not totally clear what exactly constitutes a squash or a pumpkin. Extensive cross-breeding has resulted in numerous mixes that blur the distinguishing characteristics of what defines a squash or pumpkin. Of all the families of fruit and vegetables, pumpkins and squashe must surely be the most confusing. Not only are there hundreds of varieties but some go by a multitude of names.

Roughly they seem to divide into summer squashes, pumpkins and marrows, and winter squashes, pumpkins and edible gourds. Botanically speaking they are all members of the cucurbitaceae family, which also includes cucumbers, melons and decorative gourds. The majority of the summer squash are native to Central America and Mexico, while many of the winter squash originated in the Argentine Andes. Squash grows in both bush and vine forms, both are easy to grow and a few plants will provide you with enough squash to share with all your family and friends.

Somehow I'd always supposed that squash and pumpkins weren't up to much nutritionally but on the contrary, a study done at the University of California at Davis, found winter squash to be among the most nutritious vegetables, rivalling cabbage, carrots, spinach and potatoes. They are a tasty source of complex carbohydrates and fibre and provide iron, niacin and potassium. The orange flesh is high in beta carotene, the source of Vitamin A, the more orange the flesh the higher the content. Don't forget to dry the seeds, add them to breakfast cereals, breads or simply sprinkle them with sea salt and nibble to your heart's content.

From the cook's perspective they are a dream, and can be used in a myriad of creative ways for both sweet and savoury dishes. The question is which squash/pumpkin is best to use for a particular recipe. True pumpkin aficionados will tell you to look out for flatter varieties with blue-grey, grey, or dark green skin and bright orange interior. The dense flesh will be sweet and flavourful and can be used for starters, main courses or puds. The flavour of the widely available Butternut squash is hard to beat, but look out for Delicata and Acorn with its dark green, orange or cream skin.

For pumpkin pie, you may be surprised to hear that canned pumpkin puree gives the best result and Libby's brand is universally used in the USA for the Thanksgiving pud.

The blossoms of all squash from courgettes onwards are edible and delicious. They are a regular feature on market stalls in summer in Mediterranean countries. The golden petals look wonderfully exotic in green salads. For a really impressive first course stuff each blossom with a little soft goat's cheese or mozzarella and a dab of pesto and perhaps a morsel of sun-blushed tomato. Twist the tops of the petals together to seal, dip in a light batter and fry quickly. Serve immediately while they are crisp and plump.

Squash or zucchini blossoms are a favourite filling for quesadillas in Mexico, served with salsa.

For optimum flavour don't harvest winter squash until we've had a cold snap, as with swede turnips a touch of frost enhances their sugar content. Winter squash harvested unblemished will keep in a cool dark place, eg a garage or garden shed, for up to six months, but if you have them you might as well flaunt them!