Playing with Pumpkins, Part Two

My last post was taking a pumpkin and filling it with a stuffing made of pork sausage, apples, onions, bread, and spices.  It was tasty and the pumpkin had a mild flavor that was, fortunately, not bland or bitter like previous pumpkins I have cooked.

Now I want to cook with the other pumpkin I bought at a farmer's market.  The vendors said this would be such a sweet pumpkin and I was hoping they were right.

I decided to try it with a custard inside, studded with fruit and nuts.

I decided not to use the cream

I used Michael Ruhlman's book Ratio to help me plan the custard.  I chose the 2 to 1 ratio of half-and-half to eggs for a creamy but firm custard as the base for my dessert.

Ingredients

1 pumpkin, washed and rinsed
12 ounces half-and-half
3 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 ounces sour cherries, coarsely chopped
1/4 ounce slivered almonds, chopped

My Notes

Before I knew how much half-and-half and eggs to use, I had to prepare and measure the pumpkin.

I cut off the top, putting the knife in at a slant, to make a lid and to leave as much of a bowl-like interior as I could.  Then I scraped out the seeds and strings from the inside and off the bottom of the lid.

When I rinsed the inside of the pumpkin, I filled it with water and measure how much it comfortably held.  It seemed like 15 ounces was about right, so I planned on a total of 18 ounces to work with Ruhlman's ratio:  12 ounces of half-and-half with 3 large (so 6 ounces) eggs.  I knew that could overfill it but I didn't worry about it.

I just guessed on the amount of sugar, extract, cherries, and nuts.  I wanted it mildly sweet and I thought the extract would compliment the cherries more than vanilla extract would.

Ruhlman suggested putting the half-and-half, eggs, sugar, and extract into some sort of blending device to make it smooth.  I used a stick blender.  I put the pumpkin into my Dutch oven.

Then I poured the custard mix into the pumpkin and stirred in the cherries and nuts.  This made the pumpkin very full so I put the lid on the side instead of on top.  Then I poured boiling water around the pumpkin, put the lid on the Dutch oven, and put the whole thing in a preheated 325 degree F oven.

After one hour, I took the lid off the Dutch oven to let the custard finish baking.  I notice the custard had risen and occasionally leaked out over the edge of the pumpkin bowl but I didn't worry about it.

It took another hour before I felt the custard had set enough to remove from the oven.  It wasn't entirely firm and I saw a lot of liquid around it, which I assumed was from the pumpkin itself.

I used two slotted spoons to remove the pumpkin from the baking pan and placed it in a bowl.

I then covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

The Verdict

The next day I tasted it.  The custard was firm, the pumpkin was tender, and the whole thing sliced beautifully.  It all stayed together when moving a slice to a plate for serving.

As I had expected, the cherries and nuts were mostly on the surface, but there was enough of them that it was easy to get a bite of them even when scooping up custard from deep in the pumpkin bowl.

And the flavor? 

First, the custard was just right.  Creamy, smooth, lightly sweet.  I couldn't taste the almond extract but that was okay by me.  The cherries weren't as sour as they were uncooked but still flavorful and added a nice bright sparkle of flavor to the mild custard.  The almonds did exactly what I wanted:  they were a bit of crunch that was much needed to balance the texture. 

The pumpkin was absolutely the best, sweetest pumpkin I have ever eaten.  No bitterness, sweet without being cloying, tender and smooth.  Even the rind was tender and easy to eat.  It worked so well with the custard that each mouthful was a pleasure. 

Oh my, Success!

I am saving the seeds in hopes of growing more of these pumpkins.  I wish I could remember what the vendors at the farmers market had called the variety!  I've done more reading on tasty pumpkins and I wonder if this is the variety called "Cinderella's Carriage."  It looks a lot like the description and it is soooooooo tasty. 

I wish more farmers grew this pumpkin.  It could start a trend for pumpkin-eating!  Like the nursery rhyme:  Peter, Peter, Pumpkin-Eater! 

Playing with Pumpkins, Part One

This post is the tale of two pumpkins, both of which were purchased (at separate times) from a local farmers market and a local produce stand.



You see, I want to cook with pumpkins but the ones I've bought in the grocery store are just icky in flavor.  Jack-o'lantern pumpkins are bitter and nasty.  Even the last "pie pumpkin" was pretty mediocre in flavor.  So when I found these pumpkins grown locally, I knew I had to try them.

What to do with them?

The orange one was still called a pie pumpkin but I decided to stuff it and make a savory main dish from it.

I used foods I like for stuffing, but I put them together rather haphazardly.  This means I wrote down what I used but didn't take a picture of all the ingredients before I used them.  Here is the list:

1 pound pork sausage (bulk)
1 apple, cored and cut into small pieces
1/4 large onion, sliced into thin pieces
1/2 bagel, cut into cubes and toasted
1/4 teaspoon powdered mace
1/2 cup red wine

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Any bread will do, I think.  I just happened to have a bagel handy.

The key to stuffing something (a bird, a pumpkin, whatever) is to have your stuffing completely cooked before the whole thing goes into the oven.  So brown the sausage and break it up into smallish pieces.

Partially cooked; still needs to be broken up more.

Saute the apple and onion together until tender.

I love apples and onions cooked together!

After the bread bits are toasted, break them up into smallish pieces, if they aren't already so.

I used my fingers to break them into small pieces.

Mix the sausage, apple and onion, bread cubes, and mace together in a big bowl.  Then sprinkle the wine over the top and mix it in.

Smells yummy!

Wash and dry the outside of the pumpkin.  Cut open the top -- make the opening wide -- and scoop out the seeds and strings.  Trim the strings off the inside of the top, too.

Using 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, sprinkle the inside surface of the pumpkin to spice it.

Sprinkle them separately or mix them together.  Tilt the pumpkin to get all the inside covered.

Stuff the pumpkin.  I had to push to get it all to fit, but it did fit.



Put the lid on the pumpkin and place the pumpkin in a deep pan, like a Dutch oven.  Add 1/2 cup water to the pan.

Put in oven and bake until the pumpkin is tender when you push a pick into the side.  I baked mine about 2 hours.  I checked it after one hour and added a cup of water to the pan.  The original 1/2 cup had evaporated.

The Verdict

After two hours, the pumpkin was tender but not falling apart.  I served it as a main dish and had grilled brussel sprouts as the side dish.

When I took off the lid, I could still smell the wine.  Yum!

It was easy to slice the pumpkin into wedges for serving.

The taste?  The stuffing was enjoyable:  The sausage was flavorful as a good pork sausage can be. The apples and onions added moistness and sweetness while also complementing the pork. The bread added bulk and held the wine while shifting the texture away from just meat.

The pumpkin itself was, fortunately, not bitter.  It had a mild pumpkin flavor that went well with the stuffing.  I am glad that I spiced the inside of the pumpkin before stuffing because I could taste the salt and pepper, and I liked what I tasted.

Overall a good meal.  We both liked it and are looking forward to eating the leftovers.  Success!