Pumpkin or squash purée with goats cheese

[Melbourne12]

We discovered this rather excellent dish only recently.  It makes a delicious vegetarian main course for 3 people or starter for 4 or 5 with a simple salad and fresh home-made bread.

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- 600g of the flesh of a pumpkin or butternut squash. That's around 1.2kg whole fruit. Discard the skin and seeds (or keep the seeds for drying).
- 50g butter
- 2 eggs
- 50ml crème fraiche. The original recipe calls for 150ml, so by all means add more to taste.
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- Salt and black pepper
- A shake of chilli sauce (optional)
- 50g gruyère or cheddar, grated
- Goats cheese

Chop the flesh of the pumpkin into chunks, and sauté them gently in the butter over a low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring from time to time. If they start to dry out add a little water so that they don't stick and burn. Then pass them though the coarse grater of a mouli or simply chop them fairly finely.

Beat the eggs and incorporate the crème fraiche, paprika, salt and pepper, and chilli sauce (if used). Stir the mixture into the pumpkin purée and mix well. Stir in the grated gruyère or cheddar.

Cut some rounds of goats cheese and place on top of the pumpkin mixture.

Cook in a hot oven (200C or 180C for fan-assisted) for about 15 to 20 minutes. You can brown it briefly under the grill before serving if you wish.

For more (and bigger) pictures, and the story of how we came across the recipe, see http://bit.ly/fhsvOV

[Melbourne12]

[1066]

it sounds and looks lovely!

[Dandytown]

If only I grew enough squash last year to carry on cooking

[Joe11]

Indeed this looks lovely and bet the flavours are amazing. Going to make this soon but what would you recomend i serve with it veg wise?

[Melbourne12]

Indeed this looks lovely and bet the flavours are amazing. Going to make this soon but what would you recomend i serve with it veg wise?

We just served it with home made bread & unsalted butter, and a nice green salad.  If you want to serve hot vegetables, you don't want anything too strongly flavoured.  You could go for saute potatoes and peas or spinach.  Green beans might work well, too.

[Digeroo]

No onions great that is my kind of recipe.  I think I might put in fromage frais or quark instead of creme fraiche to cut down on the fat content.