MELT- book review and contest

I recently received a copy of MELT: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese from my IACP friend Stephanie Stiavetti in California, she and her friend Garret McCord wrote a really lovely book focusing on Artisan cheeses and recipes from around the world. Grown up Mac and Cheese.


After reading through the book I chose what sounded like the most Italian of the recipes, Pasta with Fontina and Sausage baked in a pumpkin.


I am not really good at following recipes, but this time I did and guess what? 
The recipe works!
I really suggest you try it.

They were nice enough to let me publish the recipe– word for word.
Timing is everything, while roasting the pumpkin takes and hour, you can easily boil the pasta and make the filling and still watch TV! Then assemble and bake.

fabulous foto by Matt Armendariz  and Food stylist Adam Pearson

Pumpkin Stuffed with Fontina, Sausage and Macaroni

Fontina is a creamy, woodsy, Alpine-style cheese. There are many varietes of Fontina, from Swiss to Italian, with fine specimens even coming out of Wisconsin. Each has its own unique profile, so be sure to taste them all and pick the one you like the best. Regardless of which you choose, you will get a semi-hard texture and subtle mushroomy flavor.

It just so happens that Fontina pairs beautifully with the sugary flavors of a good baking pumpkin. This recipe, baked inside the pumpkin- a trick inspired by Dorie  Greenspan and Ruth Reichl, both famous for their stuffed- pumpkin recipes ( among other things)- simply knocked our sock off with flavor and a stylish yet homey presentation.
Although best with Fontina ( and a touch of Gruyere, another Alpine favorite), this recipe is flexible and can use whatever cheeses, meats, onions, or extra pasta you have on hand. Feel free to experiment.

Serves 4

1 sugar pumpkin, or other sweet variety (not a carving pumpkin), about 5 pounds

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ pound mild Italian pork sausage

4 ounces elbow macaroni

5 ounces Fontina, cut into ¼-inch cubes

2 ounces Gruyère, cut into ¼-inch cubes

3 scallions, diced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage

1 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut a circle from the top of the pumpkin at a 45-degree angle, the way you would cut open a pumpkin to make a jack-o’-lantern, and set aside.

Scoop out the seeds and strings as best you can. Generously salt and pepper the inside of the pumpkin, pop the top back on it, place it on a rimmed baking dish (since the pumpkin may leak or weep a bit), and bake for 45 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. If the sausages are in their casings, remove the meat and discard the casings. Crumble the sausage meat into small chunks and cook until lightly browned. Remove the sausage from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Discard the drippings, or save for gravy or what have you.

3. Also while the pumpkin bakes, cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain through a colander and rinse with cool water to stop the cooking process.

4. In a bowl, toss together the Fontina, Gruyère, sausage, pasta, scallions, and herbs.

Once the pumpkin is done baking, take it out of the oven and fill it with the macaroni and cheese. Pour the cream over the filling. Place the top back on the pumpkin and bake for 1 hour, taking the top off for the last 15 minutes so the cheese on top of the filling can properly brown. If the top cream still seems a bit too wobbly and liquid, give it another 10 minutes in the oven. The cream may bubble over a bit, which is fine.

If the pumpkin splits while baking, as occasionally happens, be thankful you set it in a rimmed baking dish and continue to bake as normal.

5. Allow the pumpkin to rest for 10 minutes before serving. Be careful moving the dish, as the pumpkin may be fragile. You can serve this dish two ways: Cut it into sections and serve them, or just scoop out the insides with scrapings of the pumpkin flesh for each serving. Either way is just dandy. Salt and pepper to taste.

Alternative cheeses: Fontina and Gruyère are widely available and are best used for this recipe, but feel free to try your favorite cheese. We particularly like Valley Ford’s Estero Gold or its Highway 1 Fontina, as well as Roth Käse’s MezzaLuna Fontina. If you want to try something radical, a creamy blue cheese like Buttermilk Blue or Cambozola will do nicely too.

Wine pairings: white Rhône Valley blends, Viognier, oaky Chardonnay, champagne

Additional pairings for the cheese: apples, toasted walnuts, toasted hazelnuts

my zucca ripiena

To order your copy of MELT you can go online or to any bookstore!


You’ll thank me!!!  My husband did!!

When I went to my local grocery store to buy the pumpkin and searched through them for the right size, when we were checking out, the checker stopped me and said I had picked the wrong pumpkin, that the one I chose was non-edible. WHAT? I had to fight her to insist it was edible, that I was American and pumpkins come from America and that this was an edible pumpkin. She insisted and I explained baking pumpkins, halloween pumpkins and decorative pumpkins and whipped out my mini-ipad and showed her the recipe I was going to make. They were all surprised!

But, they insisted, so I paid for a halloween pumpkin which was less than for the eating pumpkins.
Next up will show them pumpkin pie!
Enjoy!