From Andrea Watman
This dish combines rice and pumpkin - two of my very favorite things. It can be made as a main course, you can add mushrooms or even sausage meat, it can be made vegetarian by replacing the chicken stock with vegetable stock. I have even made it using the water that the pumpkin was boiled in. It may sound complicated - but it really isn't. You can stuff a medium pumpkin instead of six small ones, you can stuff a Turban Squash ( ask your green grocer) or serve it family style in a beautiful bowl.
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
1 Cup Chopped Onion
4 Cloves of Garlic Minced
2 Cups Arborio Rice
2 Cups White Wine
5 Cups of Chicken Stock
1 Medium Pumpkin
(I use what is called a milk pumpkin - it has a somewhat white color - it is the pumpkin used to make pumpkin pie - you can use a good old jack-o-lantern pumpkin, or even butternut squash if you are not into pumpkin)
6 small pumpkins (for serving)
2 Sticks Sweet Butter
1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan
4 oz Pepitas or Shelled Pumpkin Seeds
(no I don't use the ones I just cleaned out of the pumpkin - I prefer to buy them ready to use.)
Preparation:
1. Cut the tops off of the six serving pumpkins - remove the seeds and fibrous strands.
2. Place the serving pumpkins and pumpkin tops on a baking sheet - lightly coating the inner flesh with olive oil. Bake at 325 degrees for approx 15 minutes. The skin will begin to wrinkle - don't overcook you want them to hold their shape.
3. Bring a large pot of water to boil - season with salt. Cut up the large pumpkin: remove the seeds and fibrous strands, peel the outer skin away with a vegetable peeler. Add the cleaned pumpkin, cut into cubes, to boiling water. Cook as you would potatoes for mashing. It should take approx. 20 minutes.
4. Drain well and mash adding 1 stick of sweet butter. Do not add salt or pepper.
5. In a large heavy sauce pan heat olive oil and sauté the chopped onion and garlic until tender - do not brown.
6. Add rice and stir WITH A WOODEN SPOON - until rice is coated. (If you wondering why a wooden spoon - I am really not sure - but that's how my Grandmother made rice and that's how I make rice. No she never made risotto, but I am sure if she did she would have used a wooden spoon. She also taught me that if you spilled salt you had to throw some over your left shoulder, but that's a story for another day, back to the risotto).
7. Once the rice is coated add 1 cup of white wine and 2 cups of stock, stirring as often as humanly possible, until all liquid is absorbed. Add the remaining wine and 1 cup more of stock and keep stirring, once liquid is absorbed add 1 more cup of stock, stir until absorbed and add remaining stock if necessary. You want the rice to be cooked but not mushy.
8. Remove form the heat and stir in mashed pumpkin. Return to the heat stir in the remain stick of butter and parmesan cheese. The rice will be almost creamy and really yummy. I don't add salt or pepper but if you want to know is the time to do it.
9. Spoon into cooked small pumpkins - top with the pepitas or shelled pumpkin seeds and serve immediately. Get ready to take a bow because this is a crowd pleaser.
