Potiron Tout Rond

This recipe is from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume II.  My mother’s husband keeps buying pumpkins and making this dish, and it is fine by me.  A note: this is a Julia Child’s recipe, so you should be prepared for copious amounts of cream and cheese.  Accept it now and eat it anyway, because it is delectable.

Potiron Tout Rond

1 1/2 c. pressed bread crumbs

One 4 lb. pumpkin

1 T. butter

Salt

2/3 c. minced onions

1/2 c. Swiss

2 c. cream

1 bay leaf

Bake the crumbs at 300 degrees for 15 minutes.  While the crumbs are baking, scoop the seeds and strings out of the pumpkin and discard (or save the seeds to make ).  Rub the inside of the pumpkin with the butter and salt.

Saute the onions in a little butter or olive oil for 10 minutes.  Stir in the bread crumbs and cook.  Stir in the Swiss.  Pour this mixture into the pumpkin.  Add the cream and bay leaf.

Put the pumpkin in a shallow buttered baking dish and bake at 400 degrees.  After 90 minutes of baking, drop the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes.  Serve from the pumpkin, scraping the sides of the softened inside.

*You can also make a soup out of this dish by replacing the cream with chicken stock and adding it to within 1/2 inch of the rim.  Add 1/2 c. heavy cream just before serving.