Image

Carolina Gelen’s pumpkin dumplings with brown butter and Parmesan. Credit...Armando Rafael for The New York Times

Sometimes I bring home a kabocha, my favorite pumpkin, and split it open using a cleaver and a rubber-tipped hammer. I scoop out the seeds and put the halves face down on a Silpat-lined sheet pan to roast in a 400-degree oven for about an hour. When they’re done and cool enough to handle, I scrape the soft flesh from the collapsed halves into my food processor and blitz it into a smooth purée, snacking on any particularly meaty kabocha skin scraps. That purée goes into the fridge, ready for any pumpkin recipes I might want to make that week.