Local and Seasonal: Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good

Pumpkin fresh from the oven.

It's September 2010.  My friend Stacie calls me, and in a voice full of excitement, tells me, "NPR just did an interview with a chef who makes a recipe you have to try.  It's called Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good.  I know you'll love it!"  Stacie was correct, and that was the day I discovered and fell in love with Dorie Greenspan.  This recipe comes from Around My French Table, which I am very sorry to say I still don't own.  That day, though,  I went to google.com, and a quick search yielded up a version of this recipe on Epicurious.com, (which I encourage you to use if you have not already tried it, though I prefer allrecipes.com's ratings system). 

Flash forward to October 15, 2011, when I'm on my second go with this recipe since the pumpkin season hit.  While pumpkin growers in the Northeast had their crops devastated by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, I still managed to find two PA pumpkins at the Whole Foods in Mt. Washington, MD, and I shipped them back home with me.  I like the "bonne idée" section at the end of the recipe; both times I've used chard, the first time I subbed in 1.5 cups of brown rice, and this time I left out the thyme and added in about a tablespoon of ginger to complement the Star Anise and Ginger Chicken that I'm going to have as the main with my stuffed pumpkin tonight.

Try this recipe!  If enough people eat Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good, maybe stores will carry pie pumpkins after Halloween!

Found Food: Spiced Kuri Squash and Chicken Stew

When one impulse buys a 4-pound Kuri squash, it then behooves one to find a recipe that uses it.  This is the recipe that I found--and since I have a habit of finding food before I find the recipe, I'm creating a new tag.  

The amazing Red Kuri Squash

All of the vegetables and the chicken are local; the broth, while not homemade, has made use of leftover broth from my roomie's fabulous pilaf that she made me two nights ago.  I placed the onion, garlic, and ginger ends and peels in my freezer bag o' stock scraps. 

ETA: This recipe was originally posted in September 2010; it's now 2 October 2011, and I made this again deboning 2 lbs of leg quarters--NOT for the timid but an excellent way to get bones for the freezer hoard for future broth--to get 1.25 lbs of meat.  I also took photos!  Next time I make this, I may use coconut milk in place of the broth, since I bet that's worth the calories.