Hey everyone! As the weather cools and the holidays loom (did I say loom?) just around the corner it’s time to turn our palettes toward the richer side of culinary life. Oh yes, it’s the the time of winter squashes and warm chewy grains which is exactly what I’m giving you today. This would be a great vegetarian (or vegan if you nix the goat cheese) Thanksgiving recipe. It could be a side but, keep in mind, it’s quite filling. I love it because, true to my East Coast roots, I get pumpkin fever once September rolls around and I’m always looking for great new ways to eat as much pumpkin as possible while I can! If you have some great pumpkin recipes please post them for us all!
While this recipe may seem a bit daunting, it’s actually quite easy and worth the time to roast a whole pumpkin! I’ve seen many recipes that call for peeling and dicing the pumpkin while still raw then roasting the cubes, but given how hard it is to cut raw pumpkin I prefer to roast the whole thing then scoop out the flesh. Either way works just decrease the roasting time if you’re using cubes.
- 1 sugar pumpkin or similar squash (I believe it was about 3 pounds)
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup pearl barley, rinsed
- 1 pound shitake mushrooms
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons pine nuts, plus more to serve
- 1 bunch sage, chopped
- herbed goat cheese
- cinnamon
- thyme
- salt & pepper
- walnut oil or mushroom infused olive oil (optional)
- 2 pats butter
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds and place cut side down in a foil lined baking dish. Cover with foil and cook 35-40 minutes until tender.
- Heat butter in a large frying pan until fragrant and lightly browned, add onion, sage and pine nuts and saute until sage is frizzled and pine nuts are lightly toasted (about 1-2 minutes). Add a healthy pinch of thyme and mushrooms and saute until softened (about 5 minutes).
- Add barley and stir. Add stock and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer stir occasionally for 25 minutes or so until barley is tender.
- In the meantime, let the roasted pumpkin cool, then scoop out flesh and process through a food processor or high powered blender. Add a pinch of cinnamon, a tablespoon or so of walnut oil (or mushroom infused olive oil...yum!) and blitz again until smooth.
- Once barley is cooked through, add pumpkin puree and let simmer for a few minutes.
- Serve topped crumbled herbed goat cheese, pine nuts, and additional frizzled sage.
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