People keep asking me for this, so here it is. I make this fabulous stew every year. This year I have a blue pumpkin to use, found in Watsonville at Gizdich Ranch. The woman at the ranch said the seeds are originally from Australia. The color is a mottled gray-green-blue and is hauntingly beautiful. I almost hate to use it. I wonder if it will turn a darker shade of blue after baking.
Carbonada en Zapallo (Argentinean Beef Stew in a Pumpkin)
Serve 8
A hearty mixture of beef and vegetables, accented with peaches and figs and festively served in a baked pumpkin, carbonada en zapallo is a South American culinary hybrid that dates back to colonial times. The Spanish found a trove of new-world foodstuffs -- pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and corn among them -- when they arrived in Peru and Chile in the 16th century, and incorporated these ingredients into dishes from home, including one of grilled meat in broth, called carbonada. (The name derives from the Latin word carbonis, or “coal”.) This unique stew-in-a-pumpkin (zapallo is Latin American Spanish for “pumpkin”) is a formidable example of fusion cooking long before fusion became fad. — Mindy Fox, Saveur Magazine, October 2000
1 10-lb. cinderella pumpkin (white, deep red, or blue; the thinner jack-o-lantern type will collapse)
1 Tbs. olive oil
1Tbs. butter
1 lb. beef chuck (pork loin will do), cut into 1” cubes
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
2 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 bay leaf
2 cups beef stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
2 fresh peaches, peeled, pitted, and cubed, or
4 canned peach halves, drained and cubed
1-1/2 cups fresh figs, stemmed and diced (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 375°. Cut a lid about 6” in diameter out of the top of pumpkin; set lid aside. Scoop out seeds. Rinse and remove strings from seeds, sprinkle with salt, place them on a separate small sheet of aluminum foil and press to flatten. Rub inside of pumpkin with butter, sprinkle with salt and a little pepper. Replace lid on pumpkin and place on a heavy baking sheet covered with foil. Bake pumpkin and seeds in the same oven side by side together until the seeds are just crispy and the pumpkin is just tender when pierced with a knife, about 45-55 minutes for the pumpkin and about 15-18 minutes for the seeds. Watch seeds closely so they do not get too brown.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Brown beef on all sides, then transfer with slotted spoon to a bowl. Reduce heat to medium; add onions, peppers, and garlic and cook, scraping brown bits stuck to bottom of pot, until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add beef and any accumulated juices, tomatoes, oregano, bay leaf, cinnamon and stock, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a slow bubble, reduce heat to low, cover, and slowly simmer 40 minutes. Add potatoes, cover, and cook for 20 minutes; then add corn, peaches and figs and cook, covered, for 10 minutes more. Taste and adjust seasonings.
3. Spoon carbonada into pumpkin, replace lid, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully transfer pumpkin to a serving platter. At the table, spoon the carbonada stew with some of the pumpkin flesh into warm serving bowls, and garnish each bowl with seven toasted pumpkin seeds on top for good fortune. Enjoy.
