On Sunday, I took a long stroll with a friend, the kind of stroll where you can’t stop remarking on how beautiful the changing trees are, how perfect the weather is, how lucky we are to be alive. This time of year just has that effect. We pointed giddily at the Styrofoam headstones and giant felt spiders and 12-foot skeletons that adorned the tiny yards and grand stoops of Clinton Hill’s stately brownstones. And don’t even get me started on all the giant pumpkins.
Actually, do. It’s not just decorative gourd season, it’s edible gourd season. While those pumpkins looked lovely on grand staircases, I think they’d look even better on your Halloweekend table, whether you need a quick and comforting meal before heading out into the night with the kiddos, or you want a delightfully seasonal treat for a scary movie marathon.
Melissa Clark’s coconut curry chickpeas with pumpkin and lime is a five-star stunner fit for the occasion (even if canned pumpkin isn’t made from the orange jack-o’-lantern types). In 30 minutes, you’ll have a rich vegan curry that’s balanced by plenty of citrus and cilantro to spoon over rice or couscous. The recipe comments are teeming with raves, but this one is my favorite: “My 5-year-old made up this song after dinner: ‘Curry’s the best, curry’s the best, curry is the b-e-st!’” I love that song.
Coconut Curry Chickpeas With Pumpkin and Lime
Some canned pumpkin purée would be especially good in Lidey Heuck’s simple and creamy pumpkin soup, seasoned with rosemary, apple cider, curry powder, nutmeg and a little maple syrup. You could roast an adorable sugar pumpkin and make your own pumpkin purée with Lidey’s guidance at the bottom of the recipe, should your schedule allow. The soup is easy to veganize by swapping in olive oil for the butter, and full-fat coconut milk for the heavy cream.
Speaking of soup, pumpkin and peanut is a soothing combination worth considering, either in Yewande Komolafe’s silky spicy peanut and pumpkin soup, or in the chef Pierre Thiam’s textural recipe for pumpkin-peanut rice balls with maafé, each a spin on warming, long-simmered stews popular across West Africa.
Can I interest you in some roasted pumpkin seeds? How about Genevieve Ko’s pasta with pumpkin seed pesto, to enjoy either as a hot dinner or a cold pasta salad lunch? Pepitas, or pumpkin seeds, are a great pesto alternative for anyone with a tree nut allergy.
And they’re also great for adding crunch to otherwise softer salads, like Nik Sharma’s five-star roasted butternut squash with lentils and feta. He offsets the squash’s sweeter notes with a dressing made tangy with pomegranate molasses and a showering of fresh scallions. The results look like Halloween in a bowl.
I’d be remiss to dedicate hundreds of words to the great pumpkin and not give you a few treats for the road. (You saw Vaughn Vreeland’s all-pumpkin Bake Time newsletter earlier this month, right?) Yossy Arefi’s new pumpkin bread pudding is exactly my speed, pillowy with challah, my preferred carb for this sort of affair, and sweetened slightly by canned purée — with the option to sweeten things further with a generous dollop of cinnamon cream.
And Kayla Hoang’s new brown butter pumpkin cookies are soft, chewy, fudgy and, according to one reader, “perfectly spiced.” As are Yossy’s cinnamon-, ginger- and nutmeg-scented fluffy pumpkin pancakes and Alison Roman’s pumpkin maple muffins, which include a little earthy turmeric for an extra orange pop. If you, like me, need your vision prescription updated, you might even mistake them for little decorative gourds.
Spicy Peanut and Pumpkin Soup
Pasta With Pumpkin Seed Pesto
Roasted Butternut Squash With Lentils and Feta
One More Thing!
Some news you should use: We’ve got a new cookbook out this week — “Cookies” by Vaughn Vreeland! Featuring 100 of the best cookie recipes from New York Times Cooking, “Cookies” is designed to delight, and delight it does. In it, you’ll find a cookie for every mood or occasion, whether you’re craving something spiced and spicy, fruity and tart; a new go-to chocolate chip cookie to stash in your freezer; or something festive for the rapidly approaching holidays. Order your copy here or get thee to a bookstore, stat! Happy baking.
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Tanya Sichynsky is an editor for the Food and Cooking sections of The Times and the author of The Veggie, a weekly vegetarian newsletter.
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