I am pumpkinned out here in Canada... we have made pumpkin everything. One thing I have discovered is that the texture of roasted, then mashed pumpkin lends itself very well to Indian desert spicing (cardamon, cloves etc.) and mixed with cream and maple syrup makes for an interesting variation on either a creme caramel or a pumpkin pie (depending on the amount of liquid and whether you put it in a crust. Also pecan nuts, pumpkin and maple syrup are an unbeatable combination.
Continuing the nut theme: butternut squash (or pumpkin), blue cheese and either hazelnut or walnut tarts are brilliant. I fry up finely chopped leaks in butter, rather than using onion, and make a savoury custard-type filling for the tarts. The pumpkin is roasted first (that's one thing I almost always do before using it for anything), and chopped into little cubes. The cheese is also cubed (I like an orange blue cheese like Blacksticks Blue for this). Crushed hazlenuts or walnuts (you can roast them first too if you like). Fresh grated nutmeg, salt and pepper and perhaps some chopped flatleaf parsley, if you have any. Mix all that up and put it in the pastry cases (which you will already have blind-baked of course... wholemeal pastry can be very good for this). Chuck them in the oven. Lovely.
