Serves: 4
Cooking time: 2 hours
Prep time: 20 minutes
Sweet pumpkin dishes hog too much of the fall food spotlight, if you ask us.
Our very favorite pumpkin dishes happen to be savory and this might be our all-time favorite because pumpkin truly is THE star here. Picture a pumpkin with the mixture of sauteed collard greens, onion, tomato, chili pepper and scallions, baked and finished off with cheese and breadcrumbs. We found most of the ingredients at the Calabasas Farmers Market.
Ingredients
- 2 2-to-3-pound sugar pumpkins
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 plum tomato, diced
- 1 Scotch bonnet chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 4 scallions, chopped
- 1 pound frozen chopped collard greens, thawed
- Kosher salt
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 4 tablespoons breadcrumbs (preferably panko)
- 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Slice off the top 1 1/2 inches of the pumpkins and discard. Scoop out the seeds and stringy pulp.
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, tomato, chile pepper, thyme and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion is slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the scallions and collard greens, add 1 1/4 teaspoons salt and cook, stirring, until the greens are slightly tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in the evaporated milk and nutmeg and bring to a gentle boil. Stir in 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs, the cheddar cheese and the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and cook, stirring, until the cheese melts and the mixture thickens slightly, about 2 minutes. Put the pumpkins in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and fill evenly with the collard greens mixture.
- Toss the remaining 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs with the parmesan. Sprinkle over the filling. Add 1 inch of boiling water to the baking dish. Cover loosely with foil and bake until the pumpkins are tender, about 1 hour, 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until browned and bubbly on top, about 30 more minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then scrape the pumpkin flesh and serve with the collards.