Who needs a soup pot when you have a big old pumpkin!?!?!

So, today is my pumpkin-inspired blogpost day.  My friend shared a recipe for a stuffed pumpkin, which reminded me of one of my favorite vegetarian WOW dishes from back in my veggie days:  The Pumpkin Tureen from Mollie Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest.  I loved to serve this in a big, beautiful cooking pumpkin and bring it to the table on a round platter, because something about a slightly browned, glistening pumpkin full of a lovely chowder is just jaw-dropping and drool-inducing in and of itself, before you even taste the yumminess within.  With that, I give you:

The Pumpkin Tureen

1 sincere 3-4 lb pumpkin

1 Tbs butter, softened

1/2 cup finely minced onion

1 tsp prepared horseradish (or to taste)

1 tsp prepared mustard (or to taste)

1 13-oz can of lowfat evaporated milk

2 slices rye bread with caraway seeds, cubed

a few dashes of each:  salt, pepper, cayenne, nutmeg

1/2 cup (packed) Swiss cheese (the sharper the better)

Preheat oven to 35o F.  Prepare the pumpkin as you would a Jack O'Lantern by cutting a circular opening in the top and scooping out the seeds and stringy stuff.  Rub the interior of the pumpkin with 1 Tbs softened butter.  Add all of the remaining ingredients into the pumpkin and replace the top.  Place the pumpkin on a baking sheet (either greased or lined with parchment to make it easy to remove) and bake until the pumpkin becomes tender, about 2 hours.  To test for tenderness, remove the "lid" of the pumpkin and gently poke the sides of the pumpkin from within with a fork.  You should feel scant resistance on the pumpkin's part.  

To serve:  Carefully and gently, place the pumpkin tureen on a round serving platter and plop it right down in the middle of your table as your guests oooh and aaaah.  When serving, scoop deeply to include bits of pumpkin flesh along with the creamy, yummy soup.  Enjoy!

What kills me about this recipe is how insanely simple the ingredients are and how easy it is to throw together.  Maximum WOW for very little effort, if you ask me!  (My favorite kind of recipe!)  Now I am off to the grocery to find a nice cooking pumpkin.  Or two.  I've got some recipes to try... or to revisit!