In a few hours it will officially be Autumn. Time for pumpkin!
I do have to admit that I like my pumpkin – in soups, stews, pies, breads, cakes – you name it, I like it! So… It actually makes sense to buy a pumpkin, roast it and puree it. For seven bucks I can get pumpkin for most of the year.
Contrary to popular belief, these strange pumpkins you may see in the grocery store are very edible. The two most popular varieties are Cinderella and Fairytale. Both are French heirloom pumpkins and both have a deep orange flesh and slightly-sweet taste.
Those big orange pumpkins you see are raised to be jack-o-lanterns. They are edible – but barely. They’re not going to make a decent pie or soup, so skip them for eating – they’re for cutting up and decorating.
Speaking of cutting up…
Here’s the inside of the pumpkin. You need a big, sharp knife.
I cut it into wedges, scooped out the seeds, and placed them on sheet pans. They went into a 350° oven for about an hour. I didn’t salt, oil, or otherwise do anything to the pumpkin at all. I was just looking for puree at this point. The flavorings will come from whatever I decide to make.
They really filled the house with the smell of Fall.
When they completely cooled, I scraped the flesh into the food processor and smooshed away. It took about six batches to get it all.
It made a huge bowl of puree that I will freeze tomorrow in about 2-cup portions. Unfortunately, canning pumpkin is not recommended at home, otherwise I’d be filling Mason jars right now instead of typing.
Let’s see how long this lasts…..
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I make this as a Thanksgiving side dish (or main course for the vegetarians)and it’s a huge hit. I first heard about it on NPR and we’ve made it every year since:
Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment, or find a Dutch oven with a diameter that’s just a tiny bit larger than your pumpkin. If you bake the pumpkin in a casserole, it will keep its shape, but it might stick to the casserole, so you’ll have to serve it from the pot. If you bake it on a baking sheet, you can present it freestanding, but maneuvering a heavy stuffed pumpkin with a softened shell isn’t easy.
2. Using a very sturdy knife–and caution–cut a cap out of the top of the pumpkin. You want to cut off enough of the top to make it easy for you to work inside the pumpkin. Clear away the seeds and strings from the cap and from inside the pumpkin. Season the inside of the pumpkin generously with salt and pepper, and put it on the baking sheet or in the pot.
3. Toss the bread, cheese, garlic, bacon and herbs together in a bowl. Season with pepper–you probably have enough salt from the bacon and cheese, but taste to be sure–and pack the mix into the pumpkin. The pumpkin should be well filled. Stir the cream with the nutmeg and some salt and pepper and pour it into the pumpkin. Again, you might have too much or too little–you don’t want the ingredients to swim in cream, but you do want them nicely moistened. (It’s hard to go wrong here.)
4. Put the cap in place and bake the pumpkin for about two hours–check after 90 minutes–or until everything inside the pumpkin is bubbling and the flesh of the pumpkin is tender enough to be pierced easily with the tip of a knife. Because the pumpkin will have exuded liquid, I like to remove the cap during the last 20 minutes or so, so that the liquid can bake away and the top of the stuffing can brown a little.
5. When the pumpkin is ready, carefully, very carefully–it’s heavy, hot, and wobbly–bring it to the table or transfer it to a platter that you’ll bring to the table.
6. To serve, you have a choice–you can either spoon out portions of the filling, making sure to get a generous amount of pumpkin into the spoonful, or you can dig into the pumpkin with a big spoon, pull the pumpkin meat into the filling, and then mix everything up. I’m a fan of the pull-and-mix option. Served in hearty portions followed by a salad, the pumpkin is a perfect cold-weather main course; served in generous spoonfuls, it’s just right alongside the Thanksgiving turkey.
"Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good" from AROUND MY FRENCH TABLE by Dorie Greenspan. Copyright © 2010 by Dorie Greenspan. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Oh boy! That looks great! I see a batch in our future. Thanks!!