Fall Pumpkin And Tomatillo Stew Food

SPICY FALL STEW BAKED IN A PUMPKIN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in pot over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic. Sautee 7 minutes or until softened. Stir in cumin, oregano and cook 3 minutes more.
• Add Rotel tomatoes, hominy, 1/4 cup water, and salt, and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered for 10-12 minutes.
• Uncover and cook 5 minutes more to thicken stew if necessary.
• In the meanwhile, cut top of of pumpkin around stem to make lid. Scoop out seeds and string. Rub inside of pumpkin with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Sprinkle cheese in bottom of pumpkin.
• Fill pumpkin with stew, add a little more cheese, then top with pumpkin lid.
• Place on a wax paper covered baking sheet and bake 1.5 to 2 hours, or until pumpkin flesh is fork tender.
• Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes.
• Serve stew, being sure to scoop out the pumpkin as well, into bowls and serve hot.

FALL PUMPKIN AND TOMATILLO STEW

Steps:

• Cut pumpkin in half. This can be tricky, but I typically take my sharpest knife and puncture the pumpkin a few times and then slam it on the counter. Eventually it will crack in half (or more). Remove seeds and reserve them. They're good after being washed and coated in olive oil and salt and baked for ~10 minutes.
• Bake pumpkin and brussel sprouts with a bit of salt and olive oil coating them in oven at 350 F for at least an hour, until the pumpkin is soft and the brussel sprouts are a bit crisp. You can also toss the brussel sprouts in the broiler for 5 minutes at the end of cooking. I cooked the pumpkin a day ahead.
• Place potatoes in just enough cold water to cover in a pot on the stove. Set burner on high. Heat until rapid boil, and then lower heat to boil until potatoes are cooked through.
• While oven and stove are going, prep veggies. For the eggplants, cut the end off, slice in half, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Salt the surface of the eggplants and set aside so the can loose some water.
• Remove potatoes and place in cold water for a little while. Once the potatoes are cool enough remove skins, dice and add back to pot retaining just enough water to cover diced potatoes.
• Add wine and uncooked veggies and pepper to pot.
• Remove pumpkin and brussel sprouts. Peel skin or scoop pumpkin out of shell and cube in 1/2 cube. Add pumpkin and sprouts to stew pot.
• Cook until all veggies are done and tomatillos have disappeared into the stew.
• Add olive oil to the top of each serving or to the entire pot to add some body. Stew is best the next day.
• Serve with bread.