Smoke + Salt with Blaine

Autumnal Rice-Stuffed Pumpkin:
Earth Oven Edition

Photography by Melanie Limpus

Say goodbye to summer dresses and BBQ messes. It’s the season of pumpkin spice lattes (yuck), turtlenecks (if those are still a thing), and warm-spiced comfort dishes!

Fall in the mountains is pure glory. The early morning air is sharp. It's the first time in months that you inhale deeply and actually taste the cold bite. The bugle of an elk cuts that crisp mountain air. Like a 2002 high school photo album, the wheatgrass wakes up with frosted tips from the night before. And my Lord… the smell! Fall in the mountains has the incredible aroma of pungently decaying leaves, wood burners lighting up, and all things good. Fall just feels like nostalgia. There is a sense of simpler times lingering; it’s begging us to slow down and enjoy ourselves.

Some days I forget how truly blessed I am. Sitting on my back porch looking out over a valley of yellow leaves where mountains, rising from the deepest depths, just loom above with promises of better times and adventure. Wyoming is pretty damn magical. 

Since this is a food article, I suppose I should actually talk about food and not just weep about how incredible this state is. So let’s dive in.

I wanted to make a dish that felt like fall without being completely cliche. I thought, what can we do with a pumpkin? When fall comes, every coffee shop figures out how to shove a pumpkin in just about every single item on the menu, so why can’t I come up with something that soccer moms will love more than their double shot vanilla pumpkin frappuccino?

This dish is, as always, best served with all your loved ones. Not only because what's the point of cooking if not for those we love, but because it makes a massive amount. While the children begin to plan their ghoulish costumes and frat boys everywhere are carving a pumpkin to imitate their own night of praying to the porcelain gods, we will be filling a pumpkin with rice, dried fruits, and the greatest gift to humanity: butter! (And please buy nice butter. “I can’t believe it's not butter?” Trust me, I have no issues believing that's not butter!) All jokes aside, cook with what you enjoy. I know I make snarky comments, but honestly, I just love seeing people get in the kitchen and be creative. This is a very simple dish, so quality, in my own eyes, is important. It will allow the dish to shine because the ingredients will do all the work for you - if they are of higher quality. But if Uncle Ben’s is your jam and Country Crock is your go-to, then what the hell, send it! I do love some boil-in-a-bag after a long gym session at Elemental. However, for a dish like this, I pull out the “top shelf” rice. The French butter. The imported cinnamon. Be a food nerd, not a food snob.

Fire Instructions:

1.

I dug a bit of a hole for my pumpkin to sit in. This will allow the coals to envelope the pumpkin, rather than the pumpkin just sitting on top of the coals. (You don’t want a burnt-to-tar bottom and raw pumpkin everywhere else.)

2.

Start a roaring fire to develop coals to cook with. Start early to give the fire plenty of time to create embers. You want these coals piping hot. I’m talking white-hot is the only option, because otherwise the coals will die and you won’t be able to tell due to burying the pumpkin.

Directions:

1.

First thing you are going to want and do is give that pumpkin a haircut and carve a circle around the stem just like a jack-o-lantern. Pull all the seeds and pulp out of that bad boy to make sure we are working with a clean, happy pumpkin (Don’t just pitch those seeds though! You’ll be haunted by the ghosts of Bocuse, Robuchon, and Bourdain!)

2.

Next coat the inside of the pumpkin with olive oil so the flesh is Shining like Johnny. (Let that one set in for a second.)

3.

With the pumpkin prepped and set aside, it's time to cook the rice. Bring 6 cups of water and a tablespoon of salt to a boil. Once boiling, add in the rice, stir once, and let simmer uncovered until there is no hard starch in the center. Strain the rice in a mesh sieve while running under cold water. Since we are going to be adding it into a pumpkin and continuing to cook it, we don’t want a big pile of mush. Therefore, you’ll want to stop the initial cooking. Transfer the rice to a mixing bowl.

4.

Start adding the dried fruit and almonds to the rice. Give a good stir to get everyone evenly distributed. Once mixed, stir in the allspice, cinnamon, and salt. (I prefer to combine my spices in a bowl beforehand.) Stir the rice mixture so everybody at the party is evenly coated with the spices.

5.

Now it’s time to fill that pumpkin. I like to layer mine like movie theatre popcorn. (For those of you who have never taken a straw, shoved it in the bag of popcorn, and then used that as a funnel under the butter machine, you can thank me later). Instead of dumping it all in, I prefer to get a layer on the bottom of the rice followed by honey and melted butter. Keep repeating until you get all the rice in your pumpkin.

6.

Once the pumpkin is stuffed, place its top back on and wrap it entirely with tin foil. This helps the exterior from getting charred and maintains the beauty of its presentation.

7.

When the coals are white-hot, shovel some into your pit and place the pumpkin on top. Continue shoveling coals into the pit until the pumpkin is surrounded by embers, then cover with dirt and pat firmly to keep the heat in.

8.

Cook for about an hour and a half or two hours. (Remember, being a veggie dish you don’t really have to worry about overcooking it, so if your coals were questionable then I’d have a longer cook time.) Trust your gut on this!

9.

Set the pumpkin on a big surface area because here comes the fun part. I would either set the pumpkin on a large tray, or if you're a backwoods goof like me just set newspaper down across the table for the pumpkin to fall on. Make vertical slices from top to bottom all the way around the pumpkin. When it begins to fall apart, it will fall down in a blossom-looking manner. Your friends and family will think you belong among the culinary greats.

10.

Garnish with parsley and pomegranate seeds.