Thursday, October 30, 2008

Baked macadamia pumpkin

Get
1 butternut pumpkin, (Cucurbita moschata) about 1 kg
1 small brown onion
100g macadamia nuts
fresh thyme tips or lemon thyme or both
150g cheese for baking, e.g. young gouda, or low-salt elbo style cheese with vegetarian enzymes (”Nimbin”), cheddar

Do
Cut pumpkin lengthwise in two. Remove the seeds.
Steam the halves until quite soft for about 30 minutes depending on the size. Not too soft or it will become unstable. Let it cool down briefly for handling.
Place the halves face up in two baking dishes or in one large one.
Scrape out most of the flesh into a bowl leaving about 1 cm depth above the skin.
Mash the flesh. Add the finely chopped onion. Grate in the macadamia nuts with a hand grater. Add the chopped thyme. Mix all ingredients together.
Fill the mash into the pumpkin shells.
Top with cheese.

Bake at 190°C on the second shelf of the oven for 30 - 40 minutes until they are golden.

Tip
The amount of ingredients depends on the size of the pumpkin. The above amounts are for a small butternut, but should be increased proportionally for larger pumpkins. This recipe is also delicious with other types of pumpkin, especially if they are fleshy rather than watery. It is important that the flesh is cooked soft.
Images: 1. Pumpkin, not Butternut and 2. unshelled macadamia nuts

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