Pumpkin spice pork is ideal for Halloween leftovers

Scarily, more than 18,000 tonnes of pumpkin is thrown away every Halloween in the UK – so to help inspire consumers to use their leftover pumpkin, rather than throw it away, Make It Scotch and food influencer, Jess Tedds, have created a meaty twist on the trendy pumpkin spice flavour by pairing it with Specially Selected Pork.

Ahead of appearing as a presenter on the Make It Scotch Cook Off, a parody of the Great British Bake Off, Jess – known as Just Jess Food – crafted a pork dish which makes use of leftover pumpkin by adding spices, including ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to give the dish that iconic pumpkin spice flavour.

Jess has paired the root vegetable with Specially Selected Pork as a healthy way to use seasonal produce and make leftovers go further.

Jess said: “I wanted to create a dish that is easy to make at home, but also affordable that can be enjoyed by the whole family. Specially Selected Pork is so versatile and the perfect pairing with under-utilised pumpkin which more often than not goes into the waste at this time of year because we don’t really know what to do with the leftovers once carved!

“I’m really looking forward to seeing how others use their pork and leftover pumpkins.”

The Make It Scotch Cook Off started to air this week on Make It Scotch’s social channels. Viewers can expect all the recognisable elements of the Great British Bake Off – from a selection of influencer presenters to showstopping technical pieces. The challenges will highlight the benefits of cooking with Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork.

Quality Meat Scotland, responsible for the Make It Scotch brands, is also highlighting Specially Selected Pork as the savvy shoppers’ choice at mealtimes this autumn as consumers seek affordable food switches.

Lesley Cameron, marketing and communications director at QMS, said: “In the current climate, it’s understandable that shoppers are looking to cut costs when it comes to their weekly shop. In the last few months, we’ve seen a surge in people switching to pork from chicken and fish.

“It’s also worth shoppers considering what they already have at home, and how they can make food go further. Pumpkin is a prime example at this time of year, as it can be roasted, blitzed or added to a risotto like Jess’ pumpkin spice pork recipe. By pairing pumpkin and pork, consumers are not just making a saving at the checkout but helping to reduce waste.”

Jamie Fleming, from Zero Waste Scotland, said: “Everybody loves to make the most of Halloween, but our celebrations tend to overlook the scariest part … the food waste. Pumpkins are as important to Halloween as the ghouls and guising, yet we often forget when carving them that pumpkins are food.

"Two-thirds of the 1.8m pumpkins bought by people in Scotland during Halloween end up being chucked away, rather than eaten. Just imagine doing the same thing with your Christmas turkey and you can see how frightening this is."

Jess’ pumpkin spice pork recipe will be aired on Make It Scotch social media and You Tube on October 31.

For more recipe ideas, visit www.makeitscotch.com.

Specially Selected Pork meatball and pumpkin spice ricotta risotto

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

• Specially Selected Pork Mince (250g)

• Ricotta (one heaped tablespoon)

• Ham stock cubes (2.5, to make 2.5l of stock)

• White wine (50ml)

• Garlic (two cloves)

• Risotto rice (75g)

• Leftover pumpkin (700g)

• Apple sauce (two tsp)

• White onion (1)

• Pork seasoning

• Butter

• Fresh sage

• Ground cinnamon

• Ground nutmeg

• Ground cloves

• Parmesan

• Panko breadcrumbs

Meatballs:

• Specially Selected Pork mince, 250g.

• X2 teaspoon apple sauce

• One tsp cinnamon

• Half tsp nutmeg

• Salt and pepper

• Half a white onion (finely chopped)

• One garlic clove (finely chopped)

• Handful crushed panko breadcrumbs

Combine all together and roll into ping pong size meatballs (maybe a little smaller). Then in a pan, add some butter and fresh sage to make sage butter and fry the meatballs gently in this until nice and cooked and leave to one side.

Pumpkin purée

• Cube 700g of leftover pumpkin, season with salt and pepper and add a drizzle of oil and roast in an oven at 180C/gas 6 for 20-30 mins until fork tender.

• Blitz until the roasted pumpkin creates a purée

• This should produce the required 425g of puréed pumpkin (any extra can be frozen and reused!)

• Add a sprinkle of ground cloves to the purée before adding to the risotto mixture

Risotto

• Then risotto in the same meatball pan (don’t wash). Little oil, other half finely chopped onion and chopped garlic clove, fry for couple mins and deglaze the pan with 50ml of white wine and simmer.

• Add 75g pp (I added around 300g) of risotto rice and stir round for 30 seconds.

• Then create your stock with the ham stock cubes. Around 2.5 litres!

• Gradually add one ladle of the stock at a time to the rice and constantly stir until dissolved and so on and so forth until all stock had displaced, this will take in total around 20-25 mins.

• Then nearer to the end of the stock, start to add your pumpkin purée one large spoonful at a time.

• Season with salt and pepper to taste then swirl in a heaped tablespoons of ricotta!

• Add the meatballs and any more stock if needed so it’s nice and silky.

• Shave over parmesan if desired and garnish with a couple of sprigs of fresh sage.

Serve up and enjoy!