Too stringy? Before you do anything with it, you have to bake and puree it. If your puree is stringy, You're Doing It Wrong.
No flavor? Were you planning on eating it by itself? You're weird.
Not sweet enough? Add more sugar to the dish, come on, people, this isn't rocket science.
I got a great run out of last year's pumpkin (read: about 3 gallons worth), and I didn't hear anyone complain about the cream-cheese filled, streusel topped, pumpkin/cranberry muffins.
I started out with a massive pumpkin that I had to bake in 3 different batches, and which produced as much puree as roughly 3 small houses. A good bit of it is stored in my freezer now, but I kept about half a gallon in the fridge to experiment a bit over the next couple of days.
Tonight I made a cream of pumpkin base, because I wanted to try savory and sweet versions (savory won, no contest), and a cranberry/citrus flan that sounded much better in print than it actually was. I mean, it was decent. If someone served that to me at their house I'd eat it and enjoy it. Just like I ate and enjoyed it tonight, but I probably won't be making it again.
Cream of Pumpkin
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
Evaporated milk
Pumpkin puree
Salt
White pepper
Making a roux is easy stuff--melt butter over low heat, add equal amounts of flour, let it cook/dissolve/get creamy and thick. I had something like 1/4 cup evaporated milk in my fridge, so I used that, let it thicken again, and started adding pumpkin puree. I didn't measure it, but I probably added about 2 cups (maybe less), gradually. It seemed a bit too thick, so I added a bit more regular milk (probably another 1/4 cup or so). Salt/white pepper to taste, topped with fresh parsley. It was definitely more than decent, and if The Husband enjoyed Cream of- soups more I'd probably make it on a regular basis.
Tomorrow I might try to make pumpkin noodles. I've been wanting to try that for a while.
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