Pumpkins mean Halloween, and sweet or savory foods

October 22, 2014 12:00 am • Last Updated: October 28, 2014 12:58 pm

By By JESSICA HOPPER and TESS TOWNSEND Staff Writers

Pumpkins are ripe for picking at B.F. Clyde's Cider Mill in Old Mystic.

Fall is in the air and the time of the great pumpkin is upon us. As part of annual autumn celebrations, local purveyors of flavor are offering a cornucopia of pumpkin-inspired dining options both sweet and savory.

Savory

Pumpkin lovers looking for unique ways to incorporate the squash into their fall menus often turn to Paul's Pasta in Groton for their fill of house-made pumpkin ravioli.

"We usually have them for a two-month period," said restaurant owner Paul Fidrych. "We make them starting in mid-September when people really start screaming for them and wind down around Thanksgiving."

The ravioli filling contains a mix of canned pumpkin, ricotta cheese, salt, pepper and ground gingersnaps. The ingredients are wrapped in dough spiced with a mix of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove and allspice.

Fidrych recommends the dish be prepared at home in a light butter sage sauce topped with walnuts or pecans.

"We sell a lot of them right around Thanksgiving in particular," said Fidrych. "People are just looking for a little twist on traditional."

While the pumpkin ravioli is not listed on the restaurant menu, Fidrych said that those diners in the know often request the seasonal favorite as an appetizer, side dish, main course - or even dessert.

"As a dessert, we've done them several ways here," including in a candy corn butter sauce, said Fidrych.

"Some people just like a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top," he said.

Sweet

A custom-order for pumpkin cake four years ago spurred Charlene Lindquist, or "The Cake Lady" as she's known, to start baking pumpkin cakes and cupcakes for customers every autumn.

The first batch for sale was baked from leftover batter from the order, and the product "just took off." Now, customers start asking for the special flavor in August.

"We tell them, just, you know it's a fall thing. We'll start them pretty soon," said Lindquist.

Lindquist mixes pumpkin puree with vanilla cake batter to make the cake portion of the treat, then decorates the sweets with cinnamon buttercream icing.

Lindquist's cinnamon icing is concocted simply by adding cinnamon to The Cake Lady's signature buttercream frosting. The baker says her icing requires a commercial mixer to pulverize the sugar.

The seasonal option is pretty popular, said Lindquist. When she spoke last week she said she was actually out of pumpkin cake and would be making more soon.

"People wait for the season to be able to get their pumpkin products," the baker said.

The Cake Lady has locations in New London and East Lyme.

Alcoholic

Gaspar's New American Cuisine on Bank Street in New London is known for its farm to table menu, which changes with the season. House cocktails rotate along with meal options.

Starting about two weeks ago, several autumnal options have made the restaurant's list of alcholic beverages. Among them is a pumpkin martini, a milky mix of cream-based spiced rum Rum Chata and a pumpkin-flavored liqueur called Pumpkin Smash.

The drinks will be available until the menu change in early 2015, according to Chris Leitkowski, who with girlfriend Lisa Velazquez owns the restaurant.

Or, as one bartender put it, "As long as we have the pumpkin [liqueur], why stop serving?"

Leitkowski said the pumpkin martini and another fall-inspired drink, the apple-cider based Fall-arita, are gaining ground with customers. A third drink has him even more excited, however: the Snowstorm.

The snowstorm is a warm cocktail comprised of Rémy Martin cognac, Liquor 43, Frangelico liquor and fresh Colombian coffee, topped with a dollop of house-made whipped cream.

"On a chilly evening or something like that, oh my goodness, is that good," said Leitkowski.

J.HOPPER@THEDAY.COM

Twitter: @JESSHOPPA

T.TOWNSEND@THEDAY.COM

Twitter: @CONNECTICUTESS