Autumn; a time for stomping through gold and red leaves and carving beautiful, round pumpkins. Is it any surprise it’s my favourite time of year? Just take a look at our new family Instagram account- it’s entirely autumn themed!

Beautiful pumpkins aren’t just perfect for aesthetics though, they’re also delicious. Sadly however, according to the green-living charity Hubbub, 15 million pumpkins are binned every Halloween! That’s enough to make a bowl of yummy pumpkin soup for every person in the UK and a criminal waste of food.

I love roasting pumpkins (obviously. Most delicious things ever bar sweet potatoes… and yes, I may have an addiction to orange foods) but mashed pumpkin is also a great ingredient in waffles, cookies  and gorgeous cupcakes . This year however I thought I would challenge myself to make something savory!

… I also had a lot of frozen fish and seafood in my freezer because my aunt gave me a Waitrose gift card (thanks Auntie Angela!) and I can never resist a good deal.

 

Ingredients

1Kg pumpkin
1 lemon
40g unsalted butter
2 carrots
Olive oil
500ml semi-skimmed milk
450g chopped frozen fish
65g rice flour
100g frozen spinach
200g frozen mixed seafood
1tsp English mustard
40g cheddar cheese

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
• Cut up the pumpkin into chunks and cook through in a large pan of boiling salted water- should take 15 minutes or so. Drain and mash with a pinch of salt and pepper, zest from the lemon and the butter. Leave to one side.
• Peel and chop the carrots, cook for 15 mins in a large ovenproof pan with about a tablespoon of oil until they are softened.
• Meanwhile, heat the milk in a pan on medium heat. Once simmering, add the frozen fish fillets for around 10 mins. Use a slotted spoon to remove the fish, transferring to a plate.
• Take the milk pan off the heat.
• Stir the rice flour into the carrots then gradually add the milk, a ladleful at a time, stirring continuously. Stir in the spinach until broken down, then season.
• Add the fish fillets and defrosted prawns, mustard and juice from half the lemon.
• Combine the cheddar cheese and mashed pumpkin and smooth over the top, creating texture with a fork.
• Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until it is golden on top!

Notes

If you’re Low-FODMAP like me then you’ll be using a lactose-free milk. I’d advise against soy milk because it can get petty curdled and almond milk tends to be a little thin… rice milk is a good bet as is my favourite lacto-free brand (who also make lacto-free cheese!)