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Tuesday, November 9, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Turn a good pumpkin into a Great Pumpkin
By DANIEL NEMAN
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Pumpkins aren’t just meant for pie or
playful evisceration. They are also a vege-
table, a squash, and can therefore be eaten.
The question is: How? How to best eat
a pumpkin?
The other questions is: Why? Pump-
kins don’t taste particularly good. Why
would you want to eat them?
The answer is: Not all pumpkins are
created equal. Smaller pumpkins are often
delicious and are reminiscent of other
winter squash. It’s the larger jack-o’-lan-
tern type of pumpkins that give all the
other pumpkins a bad reputation, at least
in terms of texture and flavor.
So I decided to do something about it.
I decided to take some pumpkins, stuff
them full of other things, and then roast
them.
It’s not an idea I had by myself. In 2010,
the highly regarded food writer Dorie
Greenspan included a recipe for stuffed
pumpkin in her cookbook “Around My
French Table,” and they have been a pop-
ular dish since then.
So I started with Greenspan’s ground-
breaking recipe — though the idea was
not original with her, either; people have
been stuffing pumpkins for decades.
As with three of the recipes I made,
I used pie pumpkins for this dish. Pie or
sugar pumpkins, which are always labeled
such, have the best flavor of all pump-
kins. They are sweet, but only a little, and
the mild sweetness merely adds a hint of
intrigue to a savory dish.
Each of the recipes uses a starch to help
fill out the pumpkin. In Greenspan’s inel-
egantly named Pumpkin Stuffed With
Everything Good, the starch is stale bread.
It is used as the foundation for layers of
other flavors: cheese, garlic, bacon or sau-
sage — optional, if you want to keep it
vegetarian — scallions, thyme, cream and
a touch of nutmeg.
Those ingredients are satisfying
enough as they are, but don’t forget the
additional taste of pumpkin. A chunk of
pumpkin in every bite makes a good meal
better.
Next, I roasted a pumpkin stuffed
with shepherd’s pie. That’s really all you
need to know: It’s shepherd’s pie inside
a roasted pumpkin. If you kind of squint
your taste buds, it is somewhat like eating
moussaka, with pumpkin replacing the
eggplant. And while pumpkin tastes
nothing at all like eggplant, it also kind of
does.
I used ground beef for my shepherd’s
pie, but ground lamb, I imagine, would be
just as good.
The next dish I made uses a large
pumpkin — or at least large for a pie
pumpkin — five or six pounds. It’s good
for a substantial meal, which is why it’s
called Stuffed Pumpkin Dinner. People
Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-TNS
Baked in a cast-iron pan, this savory Dutch baby is
topped with roasted mushrooms, bacon and shred-
ded cheddar.
Hillary Levin/St. Louis Post-Dispatch-TNS
Stuffed Baby Pumpkins.
who are tired of turkey have been known
to make it for Thanksgiving.
The starch this time is rice (in the
shepherd’s pie recipe, it is mashed pota-
toes). The rice is mixed with ground beef,
onions, green pepper and tomato sauce, so
basically it is a chopped-up stuffed pepper
stuffed into a pumpkin, with a few twists.
The biggest twist is the way it is
cooked. Because the pumpkin is larger,
the stuffing inside will be overcooked by
the time the pumpkin is cooked through.
So to remedy that, you steam the pumpkin
for 30 minutes to soften the exterior before
stuffing and baking it.
It works like a charm.
My favorite of the four stuffed-
pumpkin dishes did not use pie pumpkins;
it used mini pumpkins, which are just a
couple of inches tall.
These are stuffed with baby kale,
breadcrumbs (that’s the starch), cheese,
scallions, garlic, pine nuts and more, all
moistened (or more) with heavy cream.
The small pumpkins are wonderfully
tender when cooked, and a little sweet. Or
at least they aren’t bitter.
Whatever. They taste wonderful, a little
bit nutty, with the unbeatable combination
of kale (or spinach, if you prefer), cheese
and cream. The pine nuts add a toasty
crunch.
Most people use mini pumpkins for
decoration. But if you stuff a few and roast
them, you’ll have a side dish worth cele-
brating at the most celebratory time of the
year.
PUMPKIN STUFFED
WITH EVERYTHING
GOOD
Makes 2 to 4 servings
1 pumpkin, about 3 pounds
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 pound stale bread, thinly sliced
and cut into ½-inch chunks
1/4 pound cheese, such as Gruyère, Emmenthaler,
cheddar, or a combination, cut into ½-inch chunks
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 slices bacon, cooked until crisp,
drained, and chopped
1/4 cup snipped fresh chives or sliced scallions
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1/3 cup heavy cream
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350
degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking
mat or parchment.
2. Using a very sturdy knife — and caution — cut
a cap out of the top of the pumpkin as you would
a jack-o’-lantern. 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 prepared baking sheet.
3. Toss the bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, chives
(or scallions) and thyme together in a bowl. Season
with pepper (add salt, if you are not using the
bacon) and pack the mix into the pumpkin. The
pumpkin should be well filled; you may have too
much mix, or too little. Stir the cream with the
nutmeg and some salt and pepper and pour it into
the pumpkin.
4. Put the cap in place and bake the pumpkin for
about 2 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. 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, bring it to the
table with care — it’s heavy, hot and wobbly.
Per serving (based on 4 servings): 451 calories;
25 g fat; 12 g saturated fat; 58 mg cholesterol; 18 g
protein; 42 g carbohydrate; 11 g sugar; 3 g fiber; 620
mg sodium; 303 mg calcium
— Slightly adapted from a recipe in “Around My
French Table,” by Dorie Greenspan
SHEPHERD’S PIE
STUFFED PUMPKIN
Yield: 8 servings
1 large or 2 small pie pumpkins
1 ½ pounds russet potatoes, peeled
and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 ½ pounds ground beef or lamb
1 onion, minced
2 cups chopped mushrooms (optional)
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups chicken or beef broth
1 ½ teaspoons minced fresh thyme
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 cups frozen pea-carrot medley, thawed (optional)
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup half-and-half
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking
sheet with parchment paper.
2. Cover potatoes with water in a large saucepan.
Hillary Levin/St. Louis Post-Dispatch-TNS
See, Pumpkins/Page B3
Stuffed Pumpkin Dinner.
Opera and armory: Remembering the Steward Building
GINNY
MAMMEN
OUT AND ABOUT
As we move east on
Adams Avenue in La Grande
we come to a one-story cin-
derblock building with a
stone veneer constructed
at 1209 Adams in 1978.
Over the past 40 years it has
housed such businesses as
State Farm Insurance and the
current Kettle Corn N More.
We, however, are going
to focus on the previous
building located here and
on the adjoining parking lot.
Following two fires in down-
town La Grande in 1891,
during which many of the
wood frame buildings were
destroyed, there were vacant
spaces waiting to be filled, in
this case lots 11, 12 and 13 of
Chaplain’s Addition next to
the Rogers Building.
David H. Steward had
come to La Grande in 1882
shortly after the fires. He
purchased lot 13 in 1886 and
lots 11 and 12 in 1890. It
was then he decided to con-
struct the large two-story
building in these lots next to
the Rogers Building, and the
Steward Building was open
by 1893.
There was a colorful
parade of activities and busi-
nesses over the next 80 years.
See, Mammen/Page B4
Richard Hermens and John Turner
Collection/Contributed Photo
The Steward Building was built by
David H. Steward and was open
by 1893.
Skill with a skillet
Properly seasoned cast-
iron cookware is versatile
By GRETCHEN McKAY
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Nonstick pans are a godsend for frying
eggs and flipping pancakes, and an enam-
eled Dutch oven will never disappoint while
cooking soups, stews and sauces. But when
it comes to the workhorse of kitchen equip-
ment, nothing beats a well-seasoned cast-
iron pan.
Not only is cast-iron cookware relatively
inexpensive — a 12-inch classic skillet
from Lodge costs less than $30 at Target
— it’s incredibly versatile. You might think
grandma used it just for frying chicken or
making cornbread, but you also can roast
a chicken or sear a steak in a cast-iron pan,
use one to make the fluffiest pancakes, bake
a deep-dish pizza or loaf of bread in one, or
even panfry a delicate piece of fish.
Properly seasoned, cast-iron pans boast
a silky, shiny surface that’s naturally non-
stick, eliminating the need for added fats.
It also retains even, constant heat if the pan
has been preheated over medium-high heat
on the stovetop or in a 500-degree oven.
Not sold? The cookware also can go
directly from the stovetop or oven to the
table, and if you take care of it properly,
cast-iron lasts for generations, earning it
points for sustainability.
Cooking on cast iron might even be good
for your health, because a small amount of
iron is transferred from the pan to your food
to your body every time you use it.
Below, we demonstrate cast-iron cook-
ware’s versatility with three fall recipes.
ROASTED MUSHROOM
AND BACON DUTCH
BABY
The large, fluffy pancake known as the Dutch baby
is often made with sweet ingredients for breakfast or
dessert. But the one-pan dish also lends itself to savory
preparations, and it’s the perfect food to make in a
properly seasoned cast-iron skillet.
Baked in the oven instead of fried on the stovetop,
the pancake is topped with a scrumptious mix of
roasted mushroom, crispy bacon and cheddar cheese.
Served with a simple green salad, it makes a terrific
lunch or light supper.
For a vegetarian dish, simply omit the bacon.
1 pound mixed mushrooms (such as
cremini, button or shiitake), sliced
4 slices bacon, sliced
3 large eggs
1 clove garlic, chopped
3/4 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided
½ cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
2 ounces cheddar cheese, grated (about ½ cup)
1 scallion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Set oven racks in middle and upper positions.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place mushrooms and
bacon on a rimmed baking sheet. Place on top rack in
oven while preheating, and roast, stirring once, until
mushrooms are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Place
a 10-inch cast-iron skillet on middle rack and heat 15
minutes.
Place eggs and garlic in a blender. Process on
high until frothy, 45 seconds. With blender running,
gradually add milk and 2 tablespoons butter; stop
blender. Add flour, cornstarch, and 1/4 teaspoon
salt; process 1 minute. Fold in thyme.
Carefully add remaining tablespoon butter to heated
skillet and swirl to coat. Immediately add batter. Bake
until golden brown and puffed, 14 to 16 minutes. Sprin-
kle with cheese and bake until melted, 3 to 5 minutes.
Top with mushroom mixture, scallions and parsley.
Serves 4-6.
— Countryliving.com
See, Skillets/Page B3