Slow Roasted Stuffed Pumpkin

Recipes from the cookbook Mince by Sue Hamilton and Dana Alexander
Published by Penguin Group NZ

Stuffed pumpkins always remind us of our university days when you could buy a pumpkin for 1 cent and you often had nothing else in the fridge to eat! This version transforms this humble vegetable into a sweet and tender delight. Serve with chutney.

(Serves 4)

Below right: An extract from Minced with photography by Alan Gillard. Published by Penguin Group NZ. Copyright © Sue Hamilton and Dana Alexander, 2010.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 red onions, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 300 g beef mince
• 1 red capsicum, deseeded and diced
• 400 g can diced tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 150 g firm blue cheese
• 2 tsp crushed chilli
• 400 g can red kidney beans
• 1 large pumpkin or squash

Method

Preheat oven to 180 °C. Heat oil in a large pan and add onions, garlic and minced beef, stirring thoroughly to brown. Add remaining ingredients (except pumpkin) and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for a further 5 minutes.

Microwave whole pumpkin on high for 10 minutes to soften skin. This makes it easier to cut away the lid so you can scoop out the seeds.

Fill pumpkin with chilli mince mixture and splash over a little olive oil before placing in a roasting dish. Pour a half cup of water around outside of pumpkin to keep it moist while cooking. Cover with tin foil and bake in the oven for 60–90 minutes until pumpkin is soft.

Remove tin foil and grill for 10 minutes to brown the top before serving.

To Serve

Serve from the pumpkin and scoop out some warm pumpkin flesh with each serving of mince. Garnish with fresh walnuts if wished, for an extra taste of winter.

Stephen Morris’s wine suggestion

Delas Cotes du Rhone 2008. $20. 90% syrah, 10% Grenache. European dryness  but good spice and elegance. Without being chunky like some Aussie reds can be. 

Instinct Cab Sauv, Merlot, Malbec - a sideline of CJ Pask winery in HBay. Just a fraction over $20, but worth more than that. Ripe berries and good cassis with a great firm structure.