The Fork: Now What? Pumpkin Edition

So we were out and about just a day or two ago and it hit us that we’re still seeing pumpkins everywhere. Halloween is over, buds, by, like, more than a week—what’re you doing? Like, what are you going to do with those pumpkins sitting on your porch? And no, we don’t mean the carved ones, because you likely already tossed out the good pumpkiny innards; we mean the decorative ones that go un-carved. Or the ones you bought and never got around to carving. What’re you gonna do with those?

We have an idea, and it’s muffins. Pumpkin muffins. Yeah—pumpkin muffins. It’s pumpkin muffins time. Pumpkin. Muffins. Time. Note, please, that smaller pumpkins are gonna be better than the gigantic pumpkins out there, but we bet you’ll be OK with those. But if you have the small ones, those’re gonna rule, we bet. Anyway, here’s what you do:

1. Chop it in half and then roast the pumpkin with the skin still on at 350 degrees for like, 45-ish minutes, maybe an hour. That skin is ROUGH, and you’ll totally cut yourself if you aren’t careful. Roasting softens it up for sure, and it makes scooping out the meat easier.
2. Let it cool a bit, god!
3. Pull out them seeds and the fibrous stuff and separate them (we’re gonna keep and roast the seeds just because it smells and tastes good, but we’ll get to that in a sec).
4. Using a spoon or an ice cream scoop or even, like, the tip of a harpoon, get that meat out of there and don’t worry so much about it coming out clean. Just get it out. Put it in, like, a bowl or whatever with a pinch of salt and mash up a bit with a fork.
5. Put it in a blender or a food processor and blend/process until smooth. Easy, right?! We’re trying to get 12 ounces, and we’ll get to that in a sec, too.

Now that you’ve got your puree, set it aside and make sure you have the following:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 12 ounces of pumpkin puree (see—we got to it)
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tbsp nutmeg
• 1 tbsp honey
• 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• a little salt, you’re the boss, but about a pinch, maybe a little more

The Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 350 (Oh, god, you didn’t leave it on after roasting your pumpkin, did you?!) and get some of them paper muffin cups into the muffin pan.
2. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
3. Mix your wet ingredients (including the puree, god!) in a different bowl, adding salt right toward the end.
4. Mix your wets and dries and stir/fold until combined.
5. Let sit for, like, five mins while you grab a quick smoke and remember when the thought of pumpkin puree wasn’t as thrilling as it is right now. Stare out beyond the horizon and think about the sea.
6. Fill your muffin cups most of the way to the top, like, 3/4 of the way and bake for 25 mins, maybe 30 (stupid altitude).
7. Stick a fork in one and if it comes out nice and clean, you’re good!
8. Eat ‘em. Eat ‘em good.

There. Pumpkin surplus fixed forever.

Or maybe you’re looking to bake banana bread?

Also

-We’ll hand it to the Santa Fe Foodies website—no, not for having a $20 yearly fee to access everything, which is absurd, but for compiling a list of restaurants open for Thanksgiving 2022. It’s something we used to do a million years ago, so we know it’s hard and sucks and that everyone still gets in your face about it no matter how hard you try. So...cool! Here’s a link to that. We look forward to the “screw you!” response from admins—but the joke’s on them: We’re already dead inside.

-Looks like that Los Poblanos gin tasting room is open over there at the corner of Marcy Street and...that other street. Lincoln, maybe? It used to be a bank? It’s across from the library, OK?! God!

-Speaking of tasting rooms, Albuquerque’s Vara Winery & Distillery has a new one in town dubbed Vara Vinoteca, and you’ll find it over at 329 W San Francisco St. Not only will you get a shot at tasting all the cool Vara stuff, Laurent Gruet (founder of Gruet, New Mexico’s most famous winery) is involved with some debut bruts and you can get wine and spirit flights.

-Oh, dip, when we told you that Josh Gerwin of Dr. Field Goods had purchased Santa Fe Bar & Grill, we didn’t know that he’d also be shuttering his original (and well-loved) restaurant in the process. It’s early days, still, friendos, but we want to offer consolation to the Midtown folks who’d grown to love Gerwin’s food. Our spies tell us the butcher shop will remain open, but that’s a wrap, at least for now, for Dr. Field Goods. Gerwin’s keeping the Santa Fe Bar & Grill name, though.

-The way we hear it, the Absolute Magnitude Cold IPA over at Second Street Brewery is a real winner. We love their Kolsch on a hot summer’s day, but what do you do when it’s cold out? Cold IPA. We know that sounds weird, but click riiiiiight here to see an image and tell us you wouldn’t quaff that in the snow.

-We mentioned once before that downtown tapas joint La Boca was planning to open a bodega-type store, and that time has reportedly come—this month, anyway. While an official from the restaurant can’t give us an exact date just yet, looks like chef James Campbell Caruso is getting into the grocery game this month, so maybe keep an eye out?

-Turns out that while we were all busy being nerds, the folks at the Dark Side Brew Crew beer blog went a-looking for the new head brewer at Hidden Mountain Brewery, Andy Lane. Cheers to former brewer Paul Mallory for his years of service—now let’s all welcome Lane by drinking a bunch of beers. If you wanna know more, Dark Side asked 20 questions.

This has nothing to do with food whatsoever, we just think it’s funny.

More Tidbits

-Website Lawnstarter-dot-com—which appears to be a site for finding affordable lawn care—has compiled a list of America’s best cities for fast food lovers. Topping that list is Orlando, Florida, which seems sad. You’ll also have a good fast food time in New York City, Chicago and San Diego, among others. Which city tops the worst places for people who like fast food? Bridgeport, Connecticut. Fuck outta here, buncha Mark Twain reading nor’easter lovers! Newark, New Jersey, is also on that list. Find all the data here, which includes lawn stuff.

-Did you know the FDA keeps an ongoing and updated list of food items that have been recently recalled? We did, because we read it sometimes. And now you know, and now you, too, can read it sometimes. You’d be surprised how rarely it affects New Mexico, but that might be more about how we don’t have a lot of cool products that go to cooler states like California. Anyway, here’s the list.

-You know how we love national food days? Well, Nov. 10 is National Vanilla Cupcake Day, so maybe you should have one of those? Other notable national food days this week include National Pickle Appreciation Day (Nov. 14, which is also National Homemade Guac Day) and National Raisin Bran Cereal Day (Nov. 15).

-Speaking of national pickles, national pickle brand Vlasic has released a candle that smells and looks like a jar full of pickles. We don’t hate it, honestly—because we’re part of humanity, and humanity LOVES things that look like one thing but are actually something else. Like, Transformers or cakes in the shape of fucking telescopes or whatever. Do you know Amaury Guichon? You should, dammit!

-The maniacs at Eater-dot-com are out there suggesting that you can and should dip cinnamon rolls into chili (not chile), and while we might not do that, we must admit it piques our interest. Does anyone have info on this? Why is this a thing?! Is this a Texas thing? If you tell us it is, we’ll believe you and we’ll leave it at that.

A Totally Scientific Breakdown of The Fork’s Correspondence

In the print edition of SFR this week, our editor’s back on that brekkie b grind, by which we mean traveling the town eating as many breakfast burritos as he can find, this time from The Pantry and the Burrito Company.

Number of Letters Received

31

*With some good tips for what hot tubs we should find and in which to drink Bloody Marys.

Most Helpful Tip of the Week (a barely edited letter from a reader)

“Hot dogs are gross and I’ll never eat them.”

*Then you, dear friend, are missing out.

Actually Helpful Tip(s)

“Loma Linda/Worthington vegetarian hot dogs have a good consistency and taste...you can get them on Amazon.”

*Big thanks to reader Mari C., from whom we’re willing to take hot dog advice.

Processed until smooth,

The Fork

P.S. Hats off to the readers who’ve donated to The Food Depot and showed us the receipt. After a bunch of you have done this, we’ll pick a name out of a hat and send that person something cool! And as for that one reader who loves the Grinners commercial, we haven’t forgotten about you, we’re working on it!