Pumpkins, you love ‘em for a few weeks, you carve them, or you just leave them around until they get soft, moldy, stinky, and become more scary looking than any jack-o-lantern imaginable. But they’re pretty expensive. We spent somewhere around $80 on about 6 large pumpkins and some small decorative gourds. This year, I decided to get my money’s worth, well at least my money’s worth for one of the pumpkins and use it for a meal. I had a really awesome idea planned. I was going to make involtini, with ribbons of soft squash-like pumpkin, wrapped around a tasty pimento cheese filling. But, then I cracked the sucker open and quickly realized ribbons weren’t happening. While pumpkins are nice and rounded, the interior texture is striated and a super-compressed flesh made of threads; very similar to slow-braised pulled pork or spaghetti squash. But, I had to make something, so here’s what I did.
After gutting and removing all of the pulp and seeds, and using my chef’s knife, I cut large sections into about 3-4-inch wide strips. Using my boning knife, I sliced along the underside of the hard exterior skin and about another ⅛ of an inch of harder flesh. Then, using my OXO mandoline, I started to plane the pieces of pumpkin, much like a woodworker, into ¼ inch thick slabs. Be very careful if you do this. You have to apply a great amount of downward and forward pressure, simultaneously, on the pumpkin and you can't use the hand-guard. I got about 4 really good pieces from half of the pumpkin along with a couple of breakaways. Just enough to make a small lasagna/pumpkin-parmesan hybrid!
I chopped up the remaining pumpkin into 1-inch chunks and made a lovely pumpkin soup. This takes a little bit of preparation, breaking down the pumpkin, but these dishes are worth the effort. Also worth mentioning, pumpkin is a great source of fiber and your guests will be impressed with your deft handling of the ol’ orange gourd. Your children will also learn the value of using everything at your disposal in the kitchen, how to be resourceful, and will be more apt to try a vegetable they associate with halloween, than say a microwaved bag of mush. I hope you enjoy these dishes, they really were fantastic!
Pumpkin Lasagna
You will need a small loaf pan (~1 lb loaf pan: 9”x5”). Split the pumpkin in half using a large chef’s knife. Break down the pumpkin, removing the guts/seeds. Using a boning knife, remove the outer flesh and next layer of harder white or green flesh. Using a mandoline or boning knife, cut the pumpkin into ¼-inch slabs. Reserve the remaining pumpkin for soup.
Pumpkin, broken-down as noted above
Shallot
10 stalks of tuscan kale
24 oz ricotta
Egg
½ cup of basil leaves, chiffonade
½ cup of parsley leaves, minced
¼ cup of sage, minced
1 cup of grated pecorino-romano, divided
Nutmeg
4 cups cream
Butter
1.5 cups shredded mozzarella
Place your pumpkin slabs in a large, glass bowl and cover with water. Place in the microwave and heat on high for 6 minutes. Then, after a slight cooling, remove the pumpkin slabs to paper towels to dry. Meanwhile, pour the cream and a stick of butter into a large sauce pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat and reduce to about a cup. This takes some monitoring, stirring, and adjustment of heat to prevent too many spillovers, ultimately reducing the heat to medium-low when thickening to simmer. When the cream is nearly at your desired consistency, add in ½ cup of the pecorino-romano. Season, as needed at the end of reduction.
While the cream reduces, preheat a skillet with olive oil over medium-high heat. Remove the leaves from your kale stems and rough chop. Mince the shallot and throw into the skillet with the kale with a pinch of salt. Stirring occasionally, and cooking for only a few minutes. Set aside to cool. Then prepare your filling by mixing together the ricotta, egg, herbs, half cup of the pecorino-romano and pepper. Add a few zests of nutmeg and stir to incorporate. Salt to taste, if necessary. Stir in the sautéed, reserved, kale/shallot mixture.
Preheat the oven to 350. Butter your small loaf and pour a thin layer of sauce into the bottom. Then place a plank of pumpkin on top. Spread a heaping serving spoon full of the ricotta mixture on the pumpkin plank and top with about a tablespoon of mozzarella. Repeat with the remaining planks of pumpkin. Once you have completed stacking and the pumpkin reaches near the top of the loaf pan, place it on a baking sheet and cover with the sauce and add some more mozzarella on top. Place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Pumpkin Soup
2 lbs pumpkin, cut into 1-inch chunks
Onion, rough dice
Apple, cored, skinned and rough chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
3.5 cups of stock (chicken or vegetable)
¼ cup cream
Lemon
Thyme
Nuts, pistachios or almonds
In a soup pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat and saute the vegetables, apple and garlic with a heavy pinch of salt for about 5 minutes. Then add the stock, bring to a boil, cover and simmer over medium-low heat, until the pumpkin is soft, 30-40 minutes. Using an immersion blender (or carefully dumping in a blender, alternatively), purée the cooked vegetables until smooth. Stir in the cream and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper.
When serving, place into the bowl and squeeze in some fresh lemon. Give a stir to incorporate and garnish with nuts and thyme.
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Copyright 2020, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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