LG Sugar Pumpies | Cooking Stories | Cooking With My Friends

LG Sugar Pumpies

When I have the chance to travel to Santa Fe, I make a point to eat at two restaurants. The Shed, just off the Plaza, has the best red chili enchiladas in town. They are consistently fantastic, and the margaritas are pretty tasty too.

The other restaurant I love is Café Pasquals. Pasqual's serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner 7 days a week. You have to have reservations for dinner, as the dining room is small. They do offer a “family table” where you can often get a seat without a reservation, but as “family” suggests, you are sitting with a bunch of other people. I’ve eaten family style a couple of times and it is fun, but it is not the same as a quiet table for two.

Last summer, we bought Cooking with Café Pasqual’s, one of the two Pasqual’s cookbooks. I’ve made their delicious Green Chili and Pork Stew before, and last night I tried out Sugar Pumpkins Filled with Vegetable Stew in Chipotle Cream Sauce. It was delicious.

The sugar pumpkins are baked in a hot water bath and then filled with a mixture of onions, carrots, celery, button mushrooms, Portobello mushrooms, squash and corn. Once the little pumpkins are filled, you add a delicious sauce made with heavy cream, chipotle chilis (that is pronounced “chip-oat-lay” unless, of course, you are Bobby Flay and it becomes a 4 syllable word…”chip-oat-a-lay” That cracks me up every time)

There is something wonderful about eating vegetables in a spicy cream sauce – the sauce is not too rich, and not too spicy. The pumpkin flesh is tender and you can scoop it out and eat it with every bite.

I also think it was just about the cutest meal I have ever eaten. I am not a bit “cute” fan, but darn it, those little pumpkins filled with goodness were just adorable - and delicious.