JACK-O'-LANTERN BEEF STEW
(From "Halloween Cookbook", by Susan Purdy, 1977)
Put stew in a pumpkin shell and there you'll serve it very well! Especially for a Halloween dinner party, with Zucchini Bread (see index) and a green salad. Adapted from Carbonada Criolla, a regional specialty of Argentina, this South American dish involves several steps and is a good project for several cooks to work on together. The stew and pumpkin are prepared separately, then baked and served together.
INGREDIENTS
1 whole pumpkin - 6 pounds (3 kg) or larger
5 tablespoons margarine or butter (75 ml; 75 g)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (1.2 ml)
2 medium-sized yellow or white onions
2 cloves of garlic
2 pounds stewing beef- chuck (1 kg), cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large carrot
2 medium-sized sweet or white potatoes
2 medium-sized whole tomatoes
8 dried apricot or peach halves
1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh peas or corn kernels (375 ml; 225 g)
1/4 cup seedless raisins (60 ml; 40 g)
1/2 teaspoon salt (2.5 ml)
1/4 teaspoon pepper (1.2 ml)
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme (1.2 ml)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (1.2 ml)
2 cups beef bouillon or water (500 ml)
TO COOK PUMPKIN
NOTE: Follow steps 1 to 4 to cook any fresh pumpkin. Instead of using it for this stew, you can also peel and cube or mash it and serve it as you would squash or sweet potatoes.
1. turn oven on to 350deg F (175deg C). Wash outside of pumpkin with vegetable brush and water to remove dirt. Cut out the lid of the pumpkin as you would for a jack-o'-lantern, but cut the lid about 21/2" to 3" (6 to 8 cm) out from the stem. This opening must be large enough for you to reach inside holding the serving spoon.
2. With the lid off. scrape out seeds and membranes. Save seeds to toast (see index).
3. Place butter or margarine and the spices inside pumpkin. cover with lid, and place pumpkin on oven-proof dish. Set it in 350deg F (175deg C) oven and set timer to bake for 60 minutes. During this time, prepare the stew as described in stew directions following.
4. After 60 minutes, use potholders to remove pumpkin (on its dish) carefully from oven. Set on heat-proof surface. To test doneness, lift lid. wait a few seconds for steam to subside, then stick a table fork into the pumpkin flesh near the opening. It should feel quite soft, like a baked potato. If done, set pumpkin aside on heat-proof surface and turn off oven. If still too hard, return it to oven and bake until soft. Pumpkin may be baked ahead of time and kept unrefrigerated up to 3 hours before filling and baking with stew.
TO MAKE STEW
1. Chop onions on cutting board.
2. Add butter or margarine to Dutch oven and set it on stove over medium heat. Add chopped onions. Press both cloves of garlic into pan with onions. Saute (fry gently) onions and garlic until golden, stirring every now and then with wooden spoon. When done, spoon onion-garlic mixture out of pan and set it aside on foil or in soup bowl.
3. Cut beef into serving pieces, then add it to the same pan that onion was cooked in. Turn on heat to medium and brown beef on one side, then turn it with wooden spoon or long-handled fork. After meat is browned on both sides, turn off heat. Sprinkle cooked onion-garlic mixture over meat in pan.
4. Peel carrot, then cut it up into roughly 2" (5 cm) lengths and add them to beef.
5. Wash and peel potatoes. Cut them into approximately 1" (2.5 cm) cubes. Add to beef. Wash and remove stems from tomatoes. Cut them into small pieces and add to beef.
6. Add fruit. peas, raisins, and bouillon or water to meat mixture. Stir with wooden spoon. Cover pan with lid and set on stove over medium-low heat. When mixture boils, turn down heat and simmer (cook slowly over low heat) about 60 minutes, or until meat feels tender when stuck with a fork. When done, turn off heat, remove pan from stove and set it aside on heat-proof-surface until about 45 minutes before serving. (Refrigerate stew if waiting longer than a couple of hours.)
TO ASSEMBLE
1. 45 minutes before serving, preheat oven to 350 deg F (175 deg C). spoon stew into baked pumpkin, which should be sitting on its baking dish. Any stew that does not fit can be left in the pan to be reheated later. Put the lid on the pumpkin and return it to the hot oven. Set timer to bake 30 minutes.
2. To test doneness, lift pumpkin's lid. Stew inside should be steaming hot.
3. Very carefully use potholders to remove pan with pumpkin from the oven. Remember, the pumpkin is full and extra-heavy. Set pan on heat-proof pad on table.
4. If you wish, you can use a felt-tipped pen to draw a jack-o'-lantern face on the side of the baked pumpkin. Be careful not to pierce the pumpkin's skin with the pen. Do no eat the skin with the drawing on it! To serve, scoop or ladle out some pumpkin along with the stew.
