Ruth Thurston in Machias has a huge collection of recipes, and a big bunch of them are for pumpkins. She is the source of this week’s answer to my question, “Whatever will I do with all the pumpkins I still have in storage?” That is, what besides pie, bread, soup, ice cream, or pudding?
When Ruth tried out this recipe, she used a butternut squash. I used an heirloom pumpkin called Long Pie; it grows looking for all the world like a zucchini but the skin turns orange in storage, and inside it shows a nice dark orange flesh.
About the gratin, Ruth wrote, “I think it would be good as a holiday side dish or a pot-luck contribution. I ate it as a main dish.” And we did, too, perfect for a dismal February night.
Since I needed enough for only two people, I halved the recipe below, except I used more grated cheese. A hard cheese is useful here—Romano, parmesan, manchego. I don’t remember now which sort mine was. After I have been grating it onto pasta, the wrapper disappears and after that, the little lumps in the fridge could be anything.
Ruth’s instructions recommend using a grater on the garlic. It is a good idea: I have been using a microplane for a long time now, and I think it is perfect for garlic. It creates a lovely puree and is easy to clean, but you sure do have to watch your finger tips, nails, knuckles, and all.
Essentially, this recipe calls for a béchamel, or cream sauce, to which you add the cheese and seasonings and then add that to steamed squash, top with crumbs and bake. Easy, really.
Pumpkin Gratin
3 pounds of pumpkin or butternut squash
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups hot milk
½ cup grated hard cheese
1 teaspoon powdered sage
½ teaspoon thyme
3 cloves of garlic, grated or pureed
Salt and pepper
Grated nutmeg to taste
Buttered bread crumbs
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel and slice the squash or pumpkin into quarter-inch slices. Steam or microwave them until tender. Melt the butter and add the flour stirring and cooking over a medium heat until the mixture bubbles. Add the hot milk gradually, whisking to keep the sauce free of lumps. Add the cheese, and whisk again. Stir in the herbs, garlic, salt and pepper, and nutmeg, cook together briefly, taste and adjust seasonings. Mix the sauce and pumpkin together and put into a buttered baking dish. Top with the buttered crumbs and bake for thirty to forty minutes until bubbly and golden.
Makes six to eight servings.
Looking for….. Butterscotch Brownies, but not just any old butterscotch brownies. Roberta Tarquinio in Harrington wrote asking for this recipe, and specified “moist and dense, with ‘cracked’ tops and no baking powder,” Roberta’s emphasis. If one of you has a baking powder-less butterscotch brownie recipe, we’d be so glad to see it and share it here.
Ruth Thurston in Machias has a huge collection of recipes, and a big bunch of them are for pumpkins. She is the source of this week’s answer to my question, “Whatever will I do with all the pumpkins I still have in storage?” That is, what besides pie, bread, soup, ice cream, or pudding?
When Ruth tried out this recipe, she used a butternut squash. I used an heirloom pumpkin called Long Pie; it grows looking for all the world like a zucchini but the skin turns orange in storage, and inside it shows a nice dark orange flesh.
About the gratin, Ruth wrote, “I think it would be good as a holiday side dish or a pot-luck contribution. I ate it as a main dish.” And we did, too, perfect for a dismal February night.
Since I needed enough for only two people, I halved the recipe below, except I used more grated cheese. A hard cheese is useful here—Romano, parmesan, manchego. I don’t remember now which sort mine was. After I have been grating it onto pasta, the wrapper disappears and after that, the firm little lumps in the fridge could be anything.
Ruth’s instructions recommend using a grater on the garlic. It is a good idea: I have been using a microplane for a long time now, and I think it is perfect for garlic. It creates a lovely puree and is easy to clean, but you sure do have to watch your finger tips, nails, knuckles, and all.
Essentially, this recipe calls for a béchamel, or cream sauce to which you add the cheese and seasonings and then add it to steamed squash, top with crumbs and bake. Easy, really.
Pumpkin Gratin
3 pounds of pumpkin or butternut squash
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups hot milk
½ cup grated hard cheese
1 teaspoon powdered sage
½ teaspoon thyme
3 cloves of garlic, grated or pureed
Salt and pepper
Grated nutmeg to taste
Buttered bread crumbs
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel and slice the squash or pumpkin into quarter-inch slices. Steam or microwave them until tender. Melt the butter and add the flour stirring and cooking over a medium heat until the mixture bubbles. Add the hot milk gradually, whisking to keep the sauce free of lumps. Add the cheese, and whisk again. Stir in the herbs, garlic, salt and pepper, and nutmeg, cook together briefly, taste and adjust seasonings. Mix the sauce and pumpkin together and put into a buttered baking dish. Top with the buttered crumbs and bake for thirty to forty minutes until bubbly and golden.
Makes six to eight servings.
Looking for….. Butterscotch Brownies, but not just any old butterscotch brownies. Roberta Tarquinio in Harrington wrote asking for this recipe, and specified “moist and dense, with ‘cracked’ tops and no baking powder,” Roberta’s emphasis. If one of you has a baking powder-less butterscotch brownie recipe, we’d be so glad to see it and share it here.