Children like pumpkin because of its natural sweetness. Served as a gratin, it makes a good vegetable dish that is high in fibre and provitamin A, with added calcium from the grated cheese.
Ingredients (serves 4):
Instructions:
- Peel and finely chop the shallots; sweat them in a little oil in a large pan.
- Peel and cut the pumpkin into 1 to 2 cm dice (the smaller the pieces, the faster they will cook).
- Add the diced pumpkin to the pan along with the bay leaf, cut in two.
- Add the grated nutmeg halfway through the cooking time.
- Leave to cook for 15 to 20 minutes (the pumpkin should be soft enough to mash easily).
- The mash can either be eaten as it is at this stage or turned into a gratin.
- Remove the bay leaf. Mash the diced pumpkin enough so that it still has a bit of texture.
- Spoon it into a gratin dish, top with grated cheese and place under the grill for a few minutes.
- As soon as the cheese starts to brown, it’s ready!
Cooked in a pan over a high heat, the water in the pumpkin evaporates and the flavour becomes more concentrated. Cooking in water, however, means a lot of the flavour is lost and it tastes bland.