Baked whole pumpkins with gooey cheesy wonderfulness

Baked whole pumpkins with gooey cheesy wonderfulness

Firstly I would like to start off by apologising for things being a bit quiet here at ‘twicebitten’ towers over the last month. I’ve been backpacking around Northern India and had rather hoped to come back with lots of awesome curry recipes to share with you. Sadly I’ve come back empty handed. None of the recipes from a day at an Udaipur cookschool have met my exacting standards so I thought I would honour the freezing late Autumn weekend with a real comfort food warmer; whole baked pumpkin with lots of lovely cream and gooey cheese. Cholesterol, what cholesterol. This is eating in the danger zone!

pumpkins

Since we got back it feels like one massive Christmas explosion, everywhere I look is party dresses, wreaths and discounted alcohol. I’ve caught the Crimbo bug and boy have I got it bad. It’s certainly more enjoyable than that bout of Delhi-belly I inevitably had (groan).  I guess the reason for my excitement is because it’s the time of year when all my favourite people in the whole world come back to Scotland and I get a fortnight full of long boozy lunches, side splitting evenings and the best hugs around. I can’t wait, roll out the turkey. 4 weeks and counting…

Baked whole pumpkins

This baked whole pumpkin recipe is so simple, it’s great to just pop in the oven, grab the Sunday papers and curl up for an hour before pulling it out and tucking in. It’s lazy weekend perfection. This dish works great like a fondue, dunking your bread into the gooey cheesy wonderfulness or alternatively you can scoop the pumpkin flesh into the cheesy mixture and then smear it on top of something like thick slices of sourdough toast.

Baked whole pumpkin with cream and gooey cheese – serves 2

Oven preheated to 180°

2 small pumpkins or squash such as acorn squash

175g of melty alpine cheese such as comte

125ml double cream

1/4tsp freshly grated nutmeg

salt and pepper to season

Take off the tops of the pumpkins and scoop out the seeds with a spoon.

Add the nutmeg, cheese and cream to the pumpkin cavity and pop the top of the pumpkin back on.

Bake in the oven for an hour to an hour to an hour and a quarter depending on the size of your pumpkins.

You may need to cover with tinfoil if they are beginning to look a bit burnt after 20-30 mins.

You can tell when your pumpkins are cooked if you are able to easily stick a knife into the flesh.

Season to taste.

Enjoy.

Baked whole pumpkins with gooey cheesy wonderfulness

Marrow made tasty

marrow made tasty

I’m sitting writing this entry in my sister’s garden in Jersey, it’s sunny and I am, at long last making use of my stupidly overpriced but trendy sunglasses. So far this year I've only had 3 occasions which would warrant wearing sunglasses and that’s not with out want of trying.

sexy marrow

I’m coming to terms with the fact that summer is on its way out. That warm samphire and crab salad may not happen this year, I might have missed the boat. I’ve been noticing the nights drawing in and that cashmere jumper getting put on every so often. Summer is being slowly pushed out the door but for today at least I’m going to enjoy it. The plan for the afternoon is to take a cycle down to the next village. I have a romantic notion of finding a roadside veg stall and a country pub but perhaps at the back of my mind I’m wondering if that all sounds a little too energetic and maybe I’m best staying here, reading my molecular gastronomy book and drinking gin? Oh the joys of being on one’s jollies.

breadcrumbs - very exciting

I think this recipe, adapted from Mark Hix’s “Seasonal British Food”, is prefect for this time of year; light but cosy. However, my main reason for making this recipe was one of curiosity. Can a marrow really be tasty enough to warrant 2 pages in his lovely book? The short answer is yes.

all ready to go in the oven

Marrow made tasty la Mark Hix –serves 2

Preheat the grill to a high setting

1 moderately sized marrow – halved with seeds removed, each half is then cut into 1-2 cm slices

2 slices of bread turned into breadcrumbs – it can be either brown or white, doesn’t matter

1 medium onion – finely sliced

4 cloves of garlic – finely sliced

4 rashers of bacon or cured ham such as Iberico or a 2 inch chunk of saucisson cut into 0.5-1cm sized cubes

couple of stalks of thyme – leaves stripped from the stem

small handful of flat leave parsley – roughly chopped

vegetable oil for frying

sea salt and pepper to season

Grill the breadcrumbs for a few minutes until crisp and golden, remove from the heat and set aside until later in a large bowl.

In the mean time fry the onions in a pan with oil on a moderately high heat until soft and beginning to get gooey, this should take approx 10 minutes.

Add the bacon or whatever you are using and cook though for a few minutes.

Add the thyme and garlic to this pan and fry for another 2 minutes then add this to the bowl containing the breadcrumbs.

In the same pan that has been used for the onion and bacon add in the marrow, this may need to be done in 2 batches.

The marrow is cooked when the edges have turned golden brown and the flesh is translucent.

Season the marrow well with salt when cooking, taste and adjust as necessary.

Once cooked add the marrow to an ovenproof dish.

Add the parsley to the breadcrumb mixture and pour this on top of the marrow.

Season with salt and pepper.

Grill for about 5 minutes.

Serve with some nice crust bread and a glass of wine (compulsory).

Enjoy.

  

Mushroom hunting part 2: the ubiquitous wild mushroom risotto

One of the laws of physics states that for every glut of foraged chanterelle mushrooms a risotto must be made. Yep it’s predictable but it is perhaps it is predictable because it is just so good, a classic if you will. I think keeping things simple is the best way to show these bad boys off.

In my defence of being boring I thought I would write a list of other potentially boring but ultimately enjoyable/good things –

            Sunday papers

Hong Kong style sweet and sour chicken

Holidays in France

Pyjamas

Radio 4

Stacy from “Gavin and Stacy”

Convinced? Perhaps not but here is my recipe for wild mushroom risotto anyways.

Wild mushroom risotto

Serves 4

300g of risotto rice - arborio, vialone and carnaroli all work well.

2 large onions - finely chopped

2-3 stalk of celery - finely chopped

4-6 cloves of garlic – finely chopped

a large glass of white wine

1 small pot of chicken stock (about a litre)  - keep on a rolling boil throughout the cooking process

400g of cleaned wild mushrooms - chanterelles, hedgehogs and ceps work particularly well, cut in halves or quarters if particularly large

1 tub of mascarpone, about 225g

50g of parmesan

a handful of coarsely chopped parsley

salt and pepper

olive oil and butter

Pop some olive oil and butter in a pan and over a low heat cook the onions and celery. Let these soften for the best part of 10 minutes.

Add the garlic and continue cooking for another couple of minutes.

Do not let the onion et cetra go brown, the idea is that it is sweet and translucent.

Season with salt.

Turn up the heat a little and add the rice, cook for a minute stirring all the time.

Do no let the rice go brown as this will reduce the amount of starch you can get out of it.

Once the edges of the rice have gone clear add in the wine.

It should sizzle as it hits the pan, keep stirring until 70% or so of the liquid has been absorbed.

Add one ladle of the stock into the rice at a time, stirring fairly continuously until most of the stock is absorbed before adding the next ladleful.

The more elbow work you put into your risotto the more gooey starchy wonderfulness it will release, this will ensure you have a lovely unctuous risotto.

After about 12 minutes of cooking the rice pop the mushrooms into a frying pan with a little oil and some butter.

Cook until golden and slightly crispy.

When the risotto is a minute off being ready add the parsley, mascarpone and Parmesan.

The rice will take about 16-18 minutes to cook, once al dente add in the mushrooms, perhaps saving a few for looking pretty on top.

Season to taste.

Enjoy.