Roasted pumpkin is the stuff of fall

11/13/2002

A roasted pumpkin comes out glistening a golden orange like an autumn sunset, tasting rich, sweet and delicious. Just wash it well and place it directly on a cooking stone in a preheated 425 degree oven. Check for doneness by inserting a sharp knife through the middle. It should have a little resistance. Cool the pumpkin and cut into fours, depending on the size. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon and roast them with a little butter and salt and pepper if you like and remove the stringy flesh and discard. The pumpkin will peel very easily.

Now you can puree some of the meat for a quick soup, which can be made so easily by mixing it with chicken broth and cream and your favorite seasonings. I like curry for this. A portion can be made into small chunks for a risotto. Puree some of it for a simple vegetable side dish or use it to make bread or muffins.

My favorite way to serve the pumpkin is by stuffing it. You can also use other squash such as Red Kuri, Pumpkin Pie, Kabocha and Buttercup. Here's how to do it:

Slightly under-bake the pumpkin, allow it to cool and then cut off the top, down about an inch and a half, with a bread knife. Scoop out seeds and stringy flesh and then fill it with a sweet filling such as Indian Pudding, or savory filling, such as a corn bread, sausage and sage stuffing, which is particularly timely because everyone is telling us not to stuff your turkey, so this is a good way to get the "stuffing tradition" out of your system, and not worry about bacteria and all the stuff they have us concerned about.

In Frida's Fiestas , recipes and reminiscences of life with Frida Kahlo, I found a delicious recipe for corn pudding which makes a wonderful pumpkin stuffing.

CORN PUDDING

12 tablespoons butter

1 cup sugar

7 to 8 cups corn kernels

1/2 cup milk

5 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

5 eggs separated

Cream the butter and sugar. Puree the corn kernels with the milk. I use the food processor. Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt. Beat the egg yolks with the flour until well mixed. Thoroughly combine the butter, corn and egg mixture. Beat the egg whites until stiff and gently fold into the corn mixture.

In Frida's recipe, she tells us to butter a baking dish and bake at 350 for 45 minutes until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. I pour the batter into my prepared and roasted pumpkin and bake it at 350 for at least another 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. It depends on how large your pumpkin is. Any extra can be poured into a baking pan and baked separately. Allow to cool slightly and cut into wedges. This makes a delicious side dish. If you want a sweet pudding the book suggests that you add candied fruit. Both ways it is great.

A recipe for Chiles in Cream follows, which is the recommended topping, for the savory version and it is wonderful, but you can use creme fraiche, yogurt, sour cream or ice cream depending on whether it is sweet or savory. I used mascarpone which I mixed with a little honey as a topping for the sweet version and everyone loved that.

CHILES IN CREAM

4 tablespoon butter

1 large onion

8 poblano chiles

2 cups heavy cream

Salt and pepper

Roast, peel and seed the chiles and cut into strips. Heat the butter in a skillet and saute the onion until transparent. Add the chile strips and saute for a minute. Stir in the cream and salt and pepper to taste and heat through.