Pumpkin Gratin

Another year, another time for cooking 101: with Cuisine: 1000 recettes/recipes by Françoise Bernard. A present. I sighed in desperation: I've long run out of storage space for cookbooks. But I was quickly won over by the simplicity of the descriptions and pictures, which lure one into action. This pumpkin gratin was almost a no brainer for my brain that is quite unable to store recipes. Almost. So this shiny cookbook did take some spitter spatter.

Pumpkin Gratin

Serves 4

1 kg pumpkin, diced
3 big potatoes, diced
1 onion, chopped
30 g butter
80 g grated cheese (I used parmesan)
3 tablespoons bread crumbs
salt
olive oil

The recipe calls for boiling the pumpkin, potatoes and onion for 25 minutes in some water, but my method is stewing veggies in their own juices with just a little olive oil. This takes longer, about 40-45 minutes, but saves a lot of flavor.

Preheat the oven at 250 °C (yes, 250 °C, very high)

Remove the veggies from the heat. Mash to purée consistency. Add 2/3 of the butter and 1/3 of the cheese to the puree, and mix it in well.

Oil an oven tin, pour in the vegetable purée and add the bread crumbs + 1/3 of the cheese on top. Divide the remaining 1/3 of butter in little nibs on top.

Put in the oven, "for a few minutes" the recipe says, under the grill. This takes a good 10-15 minutes, but do watch your oven.

On a day with temperatures knee-deep in minus, a good dish to share with friends.