This week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good, caused me some serious issues. First, I didn't want to make a whole pumpkin, as I have no idea what I'd do with it. I then tried to buy a small pumpkin for one - I couldn't find one, which is why you see the far less dramatic half pumpkin that I settled for. When I went to sccop out the pumpkin, the hollow was only tiny, so I had to remove some extra flesh (not an easy task). And finally, while I can see that done with a full pumpkin, this would be a dramatic centrepiece at a dinner party for Halloween or Thanksgiving, the taste is not that exciting - I prefer roast pumpkin sprinkled with salt and pepper and herbs, and sprayed with oil before roasting.
That's my whinge out the way - now here is the cut pumpkin:
It tasted OK - I think the cheese makes it, although the filling also includes cubes of bread, cooked bacon, chives, cream and nutmeg.
Go look at some more pumpkins via the FFwD website - anyone who used a whole pumpkin will have prettier results than mine.
Way to be creative on the smaller gourd size. Your pumpkin has nothing to be ashamed of - it looks pretty good :-)
ReplyDeleteWhen I bought this book, I really wanted to make this recipe-it looks so good!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a lot of work. But anything with cheese and bacon is good!
ReplyDeleteHehe that is a funny name for the dish! Still it does look tasty! :)
ReplyDeleteYou should try it again with a smaller pumpkin - sounds like the ratio of flesh to fillings was a little large? Still, your version looks good!
ReplyDeleteI love the name of this dish...so playful! :)
ReplyDeleteDorie is clever when she gave the name to this pumpkin dish...truyly everything good is in it :) We love it and it is hit with Wild Boar. I used Japanese pumpkin which is not overly sweet so it was the perfect pumpkin for me to make this dish ! Yumm and yours looks mouth-watering too :)
ReplyDeleteI agree that the pumpkin flesh really needs to be well seasoned regardless of the stuffing. Maybe if there is a next time you could "par-roast" the pumpkin, scoop out some of the flesh when it is softer, and then roast it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to only do a half pumpkin. I was able to find a two pounder, which will last me a couple of days, but the half idea works even better!
ReplyDeleteI made this last week too and wasn't all that impressed. I loved the stuffing, but the pumpkin just tasted like plain pumpkin. I liked it best when I mashed the stuffing and the pumpkin flesh together. Then it tasted mostly of cheese. Good idea to use a half pumpkin. I used a whole one, but I do have 15 pie pumpkins to get through!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this would also work with a little butternut squash? All these posts today are giving me so many ideas! Hopefully you liked it enough to try again!
ReplyDeleteI'd be frustrated if I had to scrape out pumpkin flesh to make enough room for my stuffing. I would think that baking it in a half pumpkin might effect the way it cooks--drying out the stuffing by the time the flesh is cooked, or something. Sorry this wasn't so great for you. Onward!
ReplyDeleteYour pumpkin's tiny and looks like mine! I like your idea of using half, but since mine was so small anyway, I went ahead and baked the whole thing. So glad I did because the whole thing was eaten in one sitting...it was REALLY good!
ReplyDeleteLooks really good. I agree...you need a dinner party or large family to eat this dish. I'll have leftovers for the week, but did a larger pumpkin.
ReplyDeleteI think maybe baking it covered in the pumpkin allowed the flavors to concentrate in a way they didn't for you? But yeah - what I would do with an entire pumpkin for just me is beyond me!
ReplyDeleteWe only have small ones, so that is not a problem overhere. But half looks also good. Everything good is inside.
ReplyDeleteGood for you to try this anyway. I got way to excited and ended up cooking 2 pumpkins, which I thought were fairly small - but am still looking at quite a bit of leftovers ! Nana had fun with this one as well and we can't wait to try out some other combos of "everything good".....
ReplyDeleteI think your pumpkin looks perfect! Sorry it was only OK for you. We really loved it! I plan on adding it to my Thanksgiving menu. Happy Friday!
ReplyDeletethis wasn't a super hit with us either, but we were able to find a fairly small pumpkin and instead of saving the actual pumpkin after we ate half, we just saved the stuffing :) ... that was at least pretty good!
ReplyDeleteIt's a dish worth trying again, and your pumpkin looks cute - it really was good! Hope you give it another chance!
ReplyDeleteHappy French Friday!
It does make a pretty presentation...and I really enjoyed the filling. As the rest of the family is anti-squash, I doubt this one will make our menu again! On to the duck for next week~
ReplyDeleteIf I try this again, I was thinking of cutting up the pumpkin, mixing with the stuffing, and baking it in a dish (with the cream on top, of course!). Maybe something like that would work for you without having to use an entire pumpkin.
ReplyDeleteThis was a hit for us, but we ended up with lots of leftovers. Yours looks beautiful, even if the flavour didn't quite get there.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry this was just ok for you - it looks really good I like that you made it in a half pumpkin.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that. I too am always trying to cut the recipes down to size, since there are just two of us in my house, and sometimes the recipe suffers as a result. I was lucky to be able to find baby pumpkins for this recipe and they were delicious. Better luck next time.
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