Pumpkin Madness

After enjoying the posts on Pinakbet(with lots of pumpkin) of Oggi-I can do that and Pumpkin & Beef Stirfry of Maybahay, I have been drooling since for some pumpkin. And last weekend, at the organic market where I usually buy our vegetables and fruits finding them wasn't that difficult. I bought the biggest and the heaviest pumpkin I could carry back home. Considering that I have a fifteen pounder little thing that loves to wiggle suspended on me. And about a hundred step stairs to climb before reaching our place. Ok I was maybe exaggerating because it was indeed really heavy. Nevertheless we survived; my baby, me and the pumpkin. And to commemorate that anecdote, yesterday night I prepared a dinner all in the name of pumpkin. We started with some crumble of pumpkin and parmesan and had some pumpkin lasagna for the main course. I was thinking of some pumpkin-persimmon ice-cream but my husband already ate all the fresh persimmons i bought in the market. So we had just some bar of chocolate for our dessert.

Pumpkin Lasagna

for the sauce bolognese : 500 g of ground beef, garlic, 1 onion sliced, 1 carrot cut in small cubes, half a liter of tomato sauce, 2 tbsp of olive oil, salt , pepper, and some dried thyme and basil
for the béchamel sauce : 40 g of butter, 1 tbsp of flour, salt, pepper, half a liter of milk, some muscade
pour the pumpkin layer: 300 g of cooked pumpkin, 250 g of ricotta, salt, pepper, 1 tsp of paprika, 2 tbsp of olive oil

1 pack of grated cheese and 1 pack of pre-cooked lasagna noodles

In a casserole, saute some garlic, onion and carrots with olive oil. Add the ground beef and herbs (thyme & basil). Pour in the tomato sauce and salt and pepper to taste. In another casserole, melt the butter and add the flour. Pour in the milk and stir non-stop the sauce until it becomes homogenous. Add salt, pepper and some muscade. In a mixing bowl, mix evenly the ricotta cheese with the cooked pumpkin. Eventually add salt,pepper, muscade and olive oil. In a lasagna pan, layer alternately the lasagna noodle, the sauce bolognese, bechamel sauce and pumpkin-ricotta mixture. Top with grated cheese and bake for 40-45 minutes at about 200 degrees.

Crumble of Pumpkin & Parmesan

650 g de pumpkin, 15 dl of fresh cream, salt, pepper, muscade, 1 tsp of curry powder , 100 g of flour, 100 of butter, 75 g of parmesan cheese

In a bowl mix the flour and butter cut in small cubes. Add eventually the parmesan cheese. In a casserole of boiling water cook the pumpkin for about ten minutes. When its done, gently peel off its skin. Put the cooked pumpkin in the mixer and add the fresh cream, salt, pepper, muscade and curry powder and blend well. Put the pumpkin mixture in ramekin and cover it with flour-butter-parmesan mixture and cook in the oven until golden brown (about 10 minutes 180 degrees).