Pumpkin and Goats Cheese Gratin with Hazlenut Topping

Pumpkin and Goats Cheese Gratin with Hazelnut Topping

I love dishes made out of pumpkin or any kind of squash! The Thanksgiving season has put me in the mood! Here is a good pumpkin gratin dish which mixes goats cheese and leeks with the pumpkin. If you don’t have pumpkin available, you can use butternut squash.

Cooking the pumpkin:

• 3 1/2 pounds pumpkin (or approximately 2 medium butternut squash to make 8 cups of cubes) Scoop out, cut into smaller pieces, set on oven tray
• 2 TBSP olive oil to drizzle over pumpkin
• Dash of sea salt sprinkled over pumpkin

Preparing Gratin:

• ½ stick butter, cut into large pieces
• 3 cups sliced leeks (use the white or pale green part only, not the dark green
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
• 1 x 5.5-ounce log soft fresh goat cheese
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream (I substitute 2/3 C low fat yogurt and 1/3 of the cream … to cut calories)
• 1/2 cup hazelnuts: chop coarsely and toast

Heat oven to 400°F. Put pumpkin pieces on tray and sprinkle with olive oil and sea salt, fresh ground pepper. Roast the pumpkin until just tender and beginning to brown. This takes about 35 minutes; stir occasionally

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in skillet or large soup pan over medium-low heat.
Add sliced leeks and chopped sage; sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Sauté the leeks until they are tender and start to turn brown,.
Coat 11×7-inch baking dish with remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Spread half of leek mixture over bottom of prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with half of squash and half of cheese. Repeat layering with leeks, squash, and cheese. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Pour cream/yogurt evenly over gratin. Sprinkle top with toasted chopped hazelnuts.
Bake uncovered until heated through and bubbling, about 30 minutes (40 minutes if previously chilled).

Posted on Wednesday, November 10th, 2010 at 1:57 pm in Food & Drink. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.