Impress Guests By Channeling Julia Child And Serving Your Pumpkin Dishes Inside The Gourd

Julia Child's cooking tips that make every meal a work of art easily become more significant when this chef's simple recipes are served in more thoughtful and unexpected ways. While Child wasn't one to care for strenuous, over-complicated food, she developed unique ways of serving particular meals, especially when it came to seasonal fare. If you're looking for a fun, new recipe to serve at your next fall-inspired get-together, Child had one worthwhile meal worth trying.

When it comes to embracing autumn, pumpkin is one fruit that everyone seems to enjoy. Fortunately, Child developed one pumpkin-inspired recipe that can easily be made into two distinct dishes. The best part about these seasonal meals? They're served in whole, roasted pumpkins. Bright orange gourds can serve as both central ingredients and holding vessels for your next show-stopping dinner at home. The all-encompassing title of Child's stuffed pumpkin and pumpkin soup recipe is called "Le potiron tout rond," which translates to "the all-round pumpkin."

Each dish starts with a base of simmered onions in butter, toasted breadcrumbs, and Swiss cheese. This savory mixture is then transferred to one or two pre-cleaned pumpkins and filled with either heavy cream (for stuffed pumpkin) or chicken stock (for pumpkin soup). Upon baking, impress your guests by serving these hearty meals directly from the gourds themselves, filling each bowl with ladles of perfectly spiced filling and sweet pumpkin flavor.

Believe it or not, serving pumpkin soup and other recipes cooked in full gourds takes a bit of finesse. For starters, when you cut the tops off your pumpkins, position your knife upward toward the stem. This way, once the gourds are filled and closed for baking, the stems won't fall through into the filling. The best pumpkin variety to cook with will be one that you can easily lift, especially once it's filled and cooked. While pumpkins are quite hard when they're raw, roasting them for over an hour gives them a softer, more fragile texture. 

To avoid accidentally puncturing the outer skin or causing leaks when serving, bake pumpkins on a lined baking sheet and avoid moving the final product too much when serving. Nevertheless, if you're worried about relying on one large pumpkin to get the job done, small, individual pumpkins may be more manageable. Allotting each guest their own pumpkin may also be a fun and surprising gesture. Once you successfully dazzle your guests with this alluring meal, end the night with a tasty, seasonal treat like homemade gingersnaps or three-ingredient apple pie puff pastries.