Buongiorno.
Thanks for making the November dinner such a success! As I receive the recipes from the participants, I'll be posting them here, so watch for them. And if you participated: Send in those recipes if you wish to share them.
Here's the first one from our fabulous host, Jeremy.
Grazie mille,
Marco Flavio
Afghani kaddo bowrani
Pumpkin
two 2 to 2.5 pound sugar pumpkins (they taste the best)
1 cup sugar
Yogurt sauce
1 cup plain yogurt
3 clove garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
Salt & pepper to taste
Meat sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 pound lean ground beef or turkey
4 clove garlic, crushed
1 cup tomato sauce or pureed whole tomatoes
1/2 cup water
Set the oven at 350.
Cut the pumpkin into quarters. Remove seeds and strings, peel the skin with a vegetable peeler, and cut down into about 3-4-inch pieces.
Transfer pumpkin to a roasting pan that has been sprayed with Pam. Sprinkle sugar over pumpkin. Cover [with foil if using a roasting pan] and bake for 3 1/2 hours, or until tender and almost translucent.
Yes, this is a lot of sugar, but it tastes great. Get over it.
While the pumpkin is baking, make the yogurt sauce and the meat sauce.
Yogurt sauce: mix together yogurt with garlic and mint in a bowl; season to taste with salt & pepper.
Meat sauce: in a skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and cook the onions until lightly browned. Add ground beef, the second clove of crushed garlic, and salt & pepper. Mix well and cook until beef is browned. Add tomato sauce and water, mix thoroughly and bring to a simmer, lower heat, and cook about 20 minutes until it cooks down to a thick sauce.
To serve: spoon yogurt sauce onto dinner plates, add a portion of the cooked pumpkin, and top with meat sauce. Serves 8.
You have to eat all three things together- the sweet pumkin along with the savory yogurt and meat sauce. Enjoy!
This recipe makes enough for 20 as appetizer or 12 as a main course.












