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".
Servings: 12
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