Happy Thanksgiving!

Now that we're a week away from Christmas, with the first snowfall firmly on the ground and the next on its way, I'd like to take the opportunity to talk turkey.

Or, as the case may be, pumpkin.

oooooooooooh....

I found this beauty at a local farmer's market a while back. It was $.39 a pound, and absolutely gorgeous. I brought it home, set it on my kitchen table, and for nearly a month gazed at it, petteded it, and took pictures of it, until finally:

I had to kill it.

Brutally.

It took 6 hours of constant chopping and multiple trips the oven, but eventually I diced and roasted the whole damned thing. And later made the most fantastic roasted pumpkin seeds ever.

Words cannot describe how sore I was the next day. I had bruises on my palms, and my arms and thighs thought I had been cross-country skiing. It took me a full week to recover.

But it was totally worth it.

I'm amazed at how flavorful this pumpkin is. We've made several dishes with it (risottos, pastas, and cookies spring to mind) and still have a ton in the freezer. It is sweet and nicely textured, and adds amazing depth to anything I use it in. I wish I knew for sure what the variety was... I want to say it's a Cinderella, but the sign at the market just said "Old Fashioned Pumpkin."

Keep them that way, please!

I've saved some seeds for planting next year.

(Tiny Turkey Day for Two: Pasta in a nutmeg bechamel sauce with roasted pumpkin and parmesan cheese. Delicious! Thought I had a pic of the finished dish, but apparently I do not. Next time I make it, I'll take a picture and post it as a pic-only entry. Then you will feel like a true Insider.)