Curried Pumpkin with Caramelized Onions Recipe

Today was a beautiful, crisp fall day. The kind of day that makes you want to curl up with a good book and a bowl of something warm and savory to soothe away the chill evening winds after rambling thru town and crunching over the carpet of colored leaves. But what would it be? Pumpkin soup? no...need to make more chicken stock for a proper batch of soup. But I had enough to do a little something...a little something to marry the warm flavor of the pumpkin with the bright heat of curry...and I had onions... and I remembered a dish I used to make at a restaurant I worked at so many years ago...and tweaked it...

And here we are!

Curried Pumpkin with Caramelized Onions

• 1 medium baking pumpkin
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 1 Tsp salt
• 8-12 oz chicken stock (a good, flavorful vegetable stock can also be used)
• 1-2 Tbs curry powder, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400F. Cut the pumpkin in half. Scoop out the seeds and the fibers. (The fibers can go to the compost, but we always save and wash the seeds for toasting!). Rub the open flesh of the pumpkin with olive oil and place face down on a baking sheet - I always use a sheet of parchment on my baking sheets, but an oiled sheet will also work nicely. Roast the pumpkin about 20 minutes, until soft. While pumpkin is roasting, start the onions.

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed skillet on very low heat. Add the sliced onions and salt. Cover and cook until the onions are soft and wilted, then remove the cover and continue to cook them another 25-40 minutes (depending on the onions) stirring frequently until they are a deep amber brown. Remove from heat.

When the pumpkin has finished roasting remove from the oven, scoop out the cooked "meat" and place it into the skillet with the caramelized onions. Add the stock a little at a time, stirring to mix well and until you reach a nice creamy texture (not too wet). Stir in the curry powder to taste. Return the pan to a medium heat and simmer, stirring, about 5 minutes as the flavors blend. Serve immediately - or keep it overnight to allow the flavors to really marry and settle in and reheat to serve.