Wednesday, October 30, 2013

What's up Wednesday--pumpkin stew

Pumpkin stew is a Halloween tradition at our house.  I am making it tonight.  This is last year's picture of our pumpkin stew dinner.  I used to make the pumpkin stew on Halloween night, but then things just go to crazy, so I usually do it the Monday before Halloween or a day or two before.  This year it worked out to be today.  It is a fun tradition, and yummy too!  When you scoop it out you make sure you scrap out some of the cooked pumpkin with your stew, and it is extra yummy.  This does take over 4 hours cooking time plus prep, so plan ahead.  I got this recipe several years ago from my dear friend Robyn.

Pumpkin Stew
2 lbs stew mean, cut into 1 inch cubes
3 Tbls vegetable oil, divided
1 cup water
3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large green pepper, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tes salt
1/2 tes pepper
1 (14.5 oz) can tomatoes, undrained and blended up
2 Tbl beef bouillon granules or about 5-6 cubes
1 (10-12 lbs) pumpkin

1.  Heat 2 Tbl of oil in large pot over med-hi heat.  Place beef in the pan and cook until evenly brown.  Mix in the water, potatoes, carrots, green pepper, garlic, onion, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 2 hours.

2.  Dissolve bouillon in beef mixture.  Stir in tomatoes

3.  Preheat over to 325 degrees

4.  Wash pumpkin and cut a 6-8 inch circle around top stem.  Remove seeds and pulp.  Place the pumpkin in a heavy baking pan.  Spoon stew into the pumpkin and replace top.  Brush outside of the pumpkin with remaining tablespoon of oil.

5.  Bake for 2 hours or until very tender.  Serve the stew from the pumpkin, scraping out some of the pumpkin meat with each serving. 

Happy pumpkin eating!

No comments:

Post a Comment