What do you do with a boatload of winter squashes and pumpkins that you bought to use as decoration? That’s the very question I was asking myself this morning. Because I have a PATHOLOGICAL aversion to wasting food, especially now that money is so tight. Seriously, I think I must have gone hungry in a former life because I can’t sleep when I know that the milk expires tomorrow morning AND THE JUG IS HALF FULL!!! Makes me want to wake up the whole house and force everyone to enjoy a delicious, icy cold glass of very-nearly-spoiled milk. YUM!
So about those pumpkins and squashes. First I poked each of them and determined which were likely to keep in the pantry the longest and which had to be dealt with. Then I roasted the squashes, scooped out the good stuff and froze it in gallon ziplock bags. I wanted to save the pumpkins for pies so I sliced three of them into wedges and roasted them as well.
I set aside the biggest pumpkin for tonight’s dinner and it was so lovely, so comfort-foody, so perfect for a rainy, depressing, day-after-Christmasy kind of a day, that I took pictures so I could share it with you. The recipe is from the new Gourmet Today Cookbook. (The one with the sticker on the cover that says, “A subscription to Gourmet Magazine is included with the purchase of this book.” It’s still a great book though.) It’s called Roast Pumpkin with Cheese Fondue (page 632) and more perfect it could not be.
Take a pumpkin that’s around 7 pounds, wash it to get all the dirt off and then cut a smallish hole around the stem, jack o’latern style.
You now have the unpleasant task of scooping out the seeds and goo. I use a big metal spoon with a long handle to cut down getting sticky pumpkin guts on my hands. An ice cream scoop works well too.
If you are lucky, you’ll have someone in your house who loves roasted pumpkin seeds and is willing to pick through the goo to liberate the seeds. In my house, that person is Erin.
So now you have a scraped out pumpkin suitable for filling. Let’s fill it up, shall we?
You will need 1 cup of chicken stock or broth (please don’t tell anyone that I am using boxed broth- I haven’t had time to make my own since we moved) 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Combine with a whisk set aside for a minute.
In addition to the chicken stock/cream concoction, you will need one baguette, cut into half inch slices and lightly toasted, and 2 cups of grated cheese. I used half Gruyere and half white cheddar. The recipe actually called for Gruyere and Ementall but I had a ton of Irish cheddar in the fridge, so I used that.
Put a layer of bread in the bottom of the pumpkin, followed by a handful of cheese and a half cup of the stock/cream mixture and then repeat. You may not use all of the bread or cheese but you should definitely use all the stock/cream. Just pour any extra on top at the end.
Once your pumpkin is stuffed, popped the lid back on it and place it in an oiled roasting pan. Then brush the pumpkin with a little olive oil and pop it in a 450 degree oven for an hour and 15 minutes to hour and a half.
Here’s what it looks like when you take it out of the oven.
Hot and bubbly. Slightly browned.
Oh my goodness. Serve by scooping out some of the cooked pumpkin with the cheesy bread filling.
This dish is crazy good and just perfect for a cold and rainy weeknight. It would also make the most amazing Thanksgiving side dish. Grab a pumpkin before the season’s over and give it a try.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: A reader who tried this recipe nearly had a disaster when the stem of her pumpkin CAUGHT ON FIRE in the oven. I strongly advise you to either pop the stem off your pumpkin before putting it in the oven or soaking the stem in a glass of water until it’s thoroughly wet. You could also try wrapping the stem in aluminum foil before baking.
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That looks really, really yummy. It’s on my list to try this weekend.
Mmmmm, that looks so nice. Thanks for the idea.
That’s easy?? Even if I could eat all that cheese, you lost me at cutting off the top of the pumpkin and scooping out the insides. That’s WORK! (grin) It does sound tasty, though.
That looks soooo good. Thanks for the tip. I always buy way more pie pumpkins that I can ever reasonably use (really, how many pies can you eat in a month and a half?) and after I exhaust pumkin soup with roasted pears, pumpkin soup with southwestern spices (sprinkled with pepitas – yum), and, well, really that’s about it. This recipe is now looming in the very near future! How was the bread? Would stale or toasted be better do you think?
Lisa K, I think stale bred would work even better because it would soak up more of the sauce. Give it a whirl and let me know how it turns out.
Mmmmm. I’m having a Juniper Moon mini-dinner: red wine and pistachios. Mmmm.
You can freeze milk for use later. Once thawed, use it for pudidngs, soups or baking. Now go get a good night’s sleep, & don’t worry over curdled milk. Search my Rav posts — I recently posted a recipe from N. Italy for Butternut Squash/Walnut Ravioli — works great with pumpkin, too! :9
It looks like you used a pie pumpkin?
I once thought I’d use up some of my “squashes”, and found that they had cross-pollinated with some gourds at the other end of the garden. Ugh! To say the least, they were inedible.
Needless to say, I grow one or the other now, not both!
Always remember the expire date does not mean you toss it at that point. You generally have time after that, and mostly – just trust your nose and toungue. Also don’t take big gulps until you have already determined that it is just fine.
I used to rub the dates off so the kids wouldn’t see that it was expired. Also it is cheaper if you buy the milk on the expire date since it hasn’t been opened you have about 1wk-10days before it will start to turn. Ask me how I know.
Yum!!! I’m definitely going to try this!! I wish I was there to help you eat it!
yummy… glad I am not the only one that loses sleep over expiration dates on food! I also have a pantry that probably would serve us all well in a catastrophic event…oh well… This recipe looks so yummy and a house of teenage boys would go through it. I am going to try it! Thanks
Wow. I so want to try this. I have NO idea if my daughter will like it, but I want to try it.
the pumpkins look like oiled up body builders next to the other squash…
i have 3 smallish pumpkins from the garden this year…this is going to be part of thanksgiving dinner!! (seeing i cannot eat the turkey!) thanks for sharing!
Oh. My. Gaaaad.
Our sheep love to eat pumpkins and they are a natural wormer for them.
OMG, that looks amazing. I can’t wait to make it! I’m not even going to wait for a rainy in-need-of-comfort-food day
Sold. Since I’m not working now, I’ve promised myself (and sort of tempted GrandpaTutu) that I’m going to start cooking everyday!!! This will be such a treat for him. Thanks for sharing, Susie. I think I’m going to go out and take a look at that cookbook. Sounds divine!!! Love you, xoxo
It look really nummy, but am not a fan of squash. This post makes me wish I was.
That looks good! I have a pumpkin standard that I bring to potlucks and for breakfasts…
Take your pumpkin carving saw ( http://www.pumpkinmasters.com/default.asp Get one when you next see them….they work on watermelons, too…much safer to use to cut out the top, and the scoop works REALLY well) and take off the top, and scoop out the seeds. Then look up your favorite custard recipe in the Joy of Cooking or whatever (or just do what I do…mix a few eggs, 4-6, a bunch of sugar and skim milk and vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon, haphazardly together), and dump it into the pumpkin, put it in a roasting pan with about an inch of water, bake in a 350 deg oven for about 2-21/2 hours until custard is set and pumpkin is soft.
YUMMY! We love this for breakfast. My kids call it sunshine pudding.
I may make one of yours and one of mine for a potluck this weekend!
Last fall I was overwhelmed with pumpkins from my CSA and struggled to get through them all. This fall I’m taking a year away from home (in Mexico) and we have NO pumpkins. Feast or famine, right? I’ll pull this out next fall for sure, though! Thanks so much for sharing.
Hmmm… I wonder how that would taste with other winter squashes… As soon as I get my new stove next week, and I have an oven again (WOOHOO!!!), I’m gonna have to give this a try.
Oh that sounds soooo good! I’m going to have to find a pumpkin this weekend just for this. And a perfect dinner on a blustery rainy night.
That looks wonderful, Susie! We’ll be trying that around here. I wonder how it would work for Soup Club at work – It’s my turn on Monday. Hmmmmmmm.
I have been wanting to make that recipe ever since it appeared in Gourmet magazine. It seems like genius. And crazy-easy. I think what’s been stopping me is that it’s just the two of us at home and I didn’t think we should eat that much cream and cheese, even though we could. But we should have had a party just to make this recipe.
I can’t believe they closed Gourmet. I feel queasy whenever I think of it.
THANK YOU THANK YOU. I heard Ruth Reichl casually mention a recipe almost exactly like this but I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, so I couldn’t remember it either. I think maybe she also added some shredded chicken to it… but… either way. Yummy.
Did you see yesterday’s NYT recipe for pumpkin with chili?
My goodness. That looks too yummy.
WOW that looks great — I think I’ll try it on Sunday as we are expecting rain and that looks perfect for a rainy Texas afternoon! Thanks for sharing!
Served it Sunday to celebrate my Mom’s birthday, we could’ve made a meal out of it if I hadn’t alreadystarted the salmon! yummy!
I made this last night, and it’s fantastic!! I made it with 2% milk and it was still really rich and creamy. I also used curry powder and put garlic on the toasted bread – the modifications turned out really nicely. And the leftovers are great too!
Has anyone made this a day ahead and reheated it?
Also, when I lived in Brazil, in 1983 as an exchange student, my host mother made a receipe very much like this except that she used evaporated milk and added shrimp. it was called “camarones en abobora.’ It was good!
That looks simply delish!
We made this for Thanksgiving last year, and it was A.MA.ZING! Best food on the table, IMHO. Thanks Suz for the recipe!!!
Ooh, thanks for the reminder, Bill. This may be worth a re-post.
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