Roast Pumpkin with Cheese “Fondue”

This Roast Pumpkin with Cheese “Fondue” is an old Gourmet magazine recipe that I’d wanted to try for years. Last year, I finally did it. I used a giant squash called a Cheese Pumpkin at the suggestion of a local farmstand. It was huge! Somewhere between 15 and 21 pounds. Last year I was serving 19, so I figured go big or go home. I scaled the Roast Pumpkin with Cheese “Fondue” recipe up by about 2.5. It worked perfectly. Because the squash variety the farmer picked has a nice skin that’s good at holding its form, the squash stayed intact, even as I sliced it. The result was miraculous really. I could not believe the gorgeous, perfect pie slices that transferred onto the plates with ease. I served it with a very simple bitter green salad that was a nice contrast to the richness of the pumpkin. It was paired with a dry riesling and was by far the most dramatic dish of Thanksgiving 2012. I really didn’t alter the recipe at all, other than to scale up. Also, I’ve included some notes on the cheese and you should consider carefully how to pick a pumpkin. But other than that, this was just a beautiful execution of a wonderful Gourmet recipe. Also, full disclosure, I put my sister in charge of this one. She scooped, toasted bread and filled the pumpkin for me. So perhaps she was the magic.

Print Recipe

Roast Pumpkin with Cheese “Fondue”

Roast Pumpkin with Cheese “Fondue” was a whole pumpkin roasted full of cheese and bread and cream making an amazing pumpkin "fondue".

Prep Time1 hour hr

Cook Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Servings: 12

Author: Barrett of dirty laundry kitchen

Ingredients

• 7 ounces of baguette; cut into ½ -inch slices
• 1 7- lb orange pumpkin
• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 6 oz coarsely grated Gruyère the more aged the better- spend a little here
• 6 oz coarsely grated Emmentaler this is a young gruyère- because it’s less aged, it’s cheaper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Salad

• arugula
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• balsamic syrup

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 450° F with rack in lower third.
• Toast baguette slices in 1 layer on a baking sheet in oven until tops are crisp (bread will still be pale), about 7 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.
• Remove top of pumpkin by cutting a circle (3 inches in diameter) around stem with a small sharp knife. Scrape out seeds and any loose fibers from inside pumpkin with a spoon (including top of pumpkin; reserve seeds for another use if desired).
• Season inside of pumpkin with ½ tsp salt.
• Whisk together cream, broth, nutmeg, 1 tsp salt, and ½ tsp pepper in a bowl.
• Mix the cheeses in a separate bag (I used a ziploc) or bowl.
• Put a layer of toasted bread in bottom of pumpkin, then cover with about 1 cup cheese and ½ cup cream mixture. Continue layering bread, cheese and cream until pumpkin is filled to about ½ inch from top.
• Cover pumpkin with top and put in an oiled roasting pan. In my case, I used a sheet pan since the pumpkin was so large.
• Brush outside of pumpkin all over with olive oil.
• Bake until pumpkin is tender and filling is puffed, 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours. (I think mine took around 3 hours!).
• Slice and serve with the arugula salad.

Notes

Thrifty/$pendy Tip: use more emmentaler, it will be cheaper, but really buy the best for the Gruyère. And if you want to make it a bit healthier, you can definitely use milk instead of cream.

Adapted from Gourmet Magazine