Pumpkin Stew

Digging into this stew is fun and tasty.  The cooked, sweet pumpkin flesh easily pulls away with each spoonful of goodness, and provides lots of nutrients, flavor and rich, comfort-food texture.  The crunchy, seasoned pumpkin seeds make for a wonderful contrast, but might be too much of a chew for some once they soften in the stew and thus lose their crunch. 

October--the perfect time to pick up a couple o' pie pumpkins from your local farmstand to make stew with!  To make the dish pictured, choose a couple of small-ish pie pumpkins.  Create lids, leaving stems intact.  Scoop out all the seeds and set aside in a bowl of fresh water.

Rub pumpkins with olive oil, put tops back on, taking care to line up ribs for best fit.  Set aside while making the filling.

For the filling, use whatever moves you.  I went for a gumbo-style stew without the shellfish.  I even had gumbo filé on hand, a fine powdery seasoning made from dried Sassafras tree leaves (one of my favorite trees here in the northeast!) used for thickening stew, as well as, creole seasoning from a batch of homemade spice rubs (it's easy to make your own blends of seasonings; see my recipe below).  Leftover roasted potatoes were way too tempting to leave out, so they were also added.  For this carni version, I used bone-in chicken thighs and local andouille sausage from Brookford Farm.  Great stuff, but this could e-a-s-i-l-y be made for vegans and vegetarians by simply omitting the meat and beefing up (sorry, pun intended) with all kinds of root veggies.

What makes a true gumbo authentic is the chocolate-colored roux.  The French typically use a very light roux for thickening soups and stews.  For this roux, though, the same ingredients are cooked for a much longer period of time.  One might think they were about to burn their roux!  Have no fear, it makes for a killer stew!
Recipe adapted from Southern Cooking Oct. 2004.  Approximate time to make, beginning with scooping out pumpkin seeds: ~2-1/2 hours.  Perfect for a slow-food Sunday dinner!

Filling ingredients

• 1 pound andouille sausage, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (remove the casings if you want and simply go with large chunks of the ground meat) 
• 4 bone-in chicken thighs 
• Vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped (great year for peppers here on the Seacoast!) 
• 2 celery ribs, sliced
• 2 quarts hot water
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning (recipe follows) 
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 4 lg scallions (green onions), sliced
• Filé powder (optional)
• Garnish: chopped green onions

Creole seasoning:

• 3 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, depending on heat preference

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container. 

Filling Preparation

• Cook sausage in a Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until browned. Drain on paper towels, reserving drippings in Dutch oven. Set sausage aside.
• Cook chicken in reserved drippings in Dutch oven over medium heat until skin is just browned, approx. 3-4 minutes per side. Remove to paper towels, reserving drippings in Dutch oven. Set chicken aside.
• Add enough oil to drippings in Dutch oven to measure 1/2 cup.  Yes, you read that right. Add flour, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, 20 to 25 minutes, or until roux is chocolate colored.  Watch your heat, here.  If you let the pan get too hot you'll definitely risk burning the roux.  "Chocolate colored" is not the same as burned!
• (Heat oven to 350 at this point.)  Stir in onion, bell pepper, and celery to roux mixture; cook, stirring often, 8 minutes or until tender.
• Gradually whisk in 2 quarts hot water.  Switch to wooden spoon and stir occasionally until mixture comes to a boil.
• While waiting for roux mixture to boil, add pumpkins to oven, set on lower third rack.
• Add browned chicken thighs, garlic, and next 5 ingredients to Dutch oven. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes.
• Using tongs, remove chicken thighs from pot; let cool.  Remove pumpkins from oven.  Leave oven on.
• Add sausage to gumbo; cook for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, debone chicken thighs and shred meat into bite-size strips.
• Return shredded chicken to gumbo and add whites of green onion. Turn off heat. Remove/discard bay leaves.  Mix in a teaspoon (+/-) of file powder.
• Taking care when handling pumpkin lids, fill each shell with gumbo to within one inch from opening.  Place tops back on and bake for 30 minutes.
• Pumpkin seeds: rinse seeds from pulp, pat dry.  Toss in a touch of oil and creole seasoning and spread out evenly on cookie sheet.  Add to oven on bottom rack.
• When pumpkins are ready (they should yield to touch but not be too soft), remove and set aside while seeds finish cooking.
• Garnish gumbo/stew with chopped green onion and pumpkin seeds. Serve with good bread and a glass of good, crisp Riesling (remember that hot sauce?  It's perfect for balancing a Riesling!)

YUM!