Jumping on the Pumpkin Bandwagon: Pumpkin Mac and Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Blue Cheese

When the calendar flipped to October 1, it was like my Facebook news feed virtually blew up with everything fall. It's something I like to salaciously refer to as a fall-gasm.  People exclaiming, "I LOVE FALL", and wearing sweaters and riding boots even though in most cases it was still about 75 degrees everywhere. By a show of hands, who has visited an apple orchard in the last week? And has taken pictures of fall foliage with the hashtag #nofilter? So yes. People love fall. Sadly, I'm not one of those people. I would say I like fall slightly less than most people.  First of all, I'm a spring baby and no one can convince me that fall trumps May 19th because it just don't. Also, my fall and winter wardrobe is the pits. Tights?! Arg. Also, I miss the beach and good smelling sunblock. But my biggest beef with fall is.....What is with all the pumpkin?! Once fall hits, suddenly pumpkin becomes injected into everything.  Pumpkin coffee, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin beer, pumpkin cider,pumpkin hot chocolate, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin hair gel. Hell, I'm surprised Colgate doesn't come out with  pumpkin toothpaste around Halloween every year. Maybe they do, and I'm just blocking it out.

Punching pumpkins like it's my bizness

So most years I'm all like, "Down with pumpkin" and I go on being the equivalent to The Grinch that Stole Christmas. Just call me the Gluten Free Grinch that Stole the Autumnal Equinox.   However, now that I'm doing this ole blog again, I decided what better time to release my demons and jump on the pumpkin bandwagon once and for all. If you can't beat them, join the pumpkin lovin' bonanza!!

Tossing and turning one night after a touch to late in the day cup of tea, I stumbled upon the idea for pumpkin macaroni and cheese. When I learned to make mac and cheese from scratch a few years back, it became one of 10 or so dishes on my rotating menu. I never get sick of it. It's easy and quick and it's always delicious.  You can find my original blog post on making classic mac and cheese, including step by step instructions on making the GF roux here. 

While pumpkin in itself isn't sweet, it seems as if most things that pumpkin ends up in are in fact sweet. I wanted to pair the pumpkin with a little savory sweet, which is why I went with the caramelized onion. I balanced that out by adding the crust of blue cheese. This is a pretty multi-step recipe, so I suggest saving this for a nice Saturday or Sunday afternoon cooking session.  You can light your autumn harvest candles, wear a bulky sweater, and have a fallgasm in the privacy of your own kitchen. 

Pumpkin Mac and Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Blue Cheese

Ingredients

Onion

Sugar

2 T butter

1 cup of water

salt and pepper

One pie pumpkin

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

3/4 bag of GF pasta

2 T butter

1 1/2 T GF flour

2 cups milk

garlic clove, smashed

1/2 cup shredded cheddar

4 oz or so blue cheese, crumbled

1. First up, roast your pumpkin.

I was able to buy a smallish size pie pumpkin from Trader Joe's for this recipe. Thank goodness because I was traveling by bus. Cut the handle portion and bottom off so it will lay flat on the counter. This way you can cut it in half without fear of impalement. Cut pumpkin in half and scrape out seeds.  Set seeds aside.  Sprinkle two halves of pumpkin with olive oil, salt, and pepper and place cut side down on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until pumpkin is nice and soft.  Remove from oven and let cool and then scrape out your pumpkin and mash it up.  Add a little salt and pepper and set aside.

Also, don't forget to bake your seeds! Remove all the guts from the seeds and sprinkle with salt. Place on a separate cookie sheet and you can bake them in the oven with the pumpkin for about 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with a bit more salt and set aside. 

2. Next, caramelize your onions.

You can do this way ahead of time and I suggest you do. Caramelizing onion takes awhile and like any good food it can't be rushed. However, I was able to find a small loophole in terms of onion caramelization that I will share with you to make this process a bit more bearable and fool proof. When I first attempted to make caramelized onions, I ran into a myriad of problems. My pan was too hot, the onions cooked too fast, the onions burned, the sugar burned. Bah. I nearly gave up. Instead of losing all hope, I learned of a technique that allows for essentially mess up proof onions.  I'm sure Julia Child is rolling in her grave but I'm sorry Jules. I just don't have your culinary prowess! Forgive me.

Sinfully adding water to my caramelized onions to speed them along

So, start by cutting onion into rings.  Add butter to a saucepan and turn heat to medium. Once butter is melted, add onions and stir.  Shake one t of sugar and a dash of salt and pepper onto onions. Stir to coat.  Keep heat at medium. After about a minute or once you start to see the onions start to stick to the pan, add a splash of water and stir.  Keep doing this every time you see the liquid decrease to levels where it looks like the onions will start to burn or stick to the pan. I also usually add a little salt, pepper, and a dash of sugar every now and then too.  Basically by adding the water, you're not only preventing the onions from overcooking too quickly, but you're making a little speedy sugar/water sauce that will coat the onion and keep everything a nice brown color.  Now this process will still take some time.  I would say a good 20 minutes or so of constant stirring and adding a little bit of water each time things start to stick. But once the onions are a good light brown color and they fall apart when you try to cut them with a fork, they are done. Remove from heat and put in a bowl to cool.


3. Make your pumpkin cheese sauce

Add butter to sauce pan and place heat at medium high.  Once butter melts, add flour and stir about 1 minute.  Add milk slowly, whisking as you pour it in. I've started to add a smashed garlic glove to my cream sauces. It adds a great dimension and pairs well with the pumpkin.  You can throw that in now if you'd like. Reduce heat to medium and keep whisking until sauce coats the back of a spoon. Add cheddar cheese and then taste. Add salt and pepper to season to your liking.  Next, add about 1 cup of your mashed up pumpkin that you roasted previously. Stir it all together and then set aside.

4. Boil pasta

5. Put it all together.  Once pasta is cooked and drained, add your pumpkin cheese sauce and stir.  Take the remainder of your pumpkin mash and carmelized onion and add it to the pasta.  Mix everything together and place in baking dish.  Top with crumbled blue cheese and place under the broiler for 3 minutes until blue cheese is nice and bubbling. Remove from oven and top with pumpkin seeds.

God, that's good stuff

So this recipe totally won me over. I may not have fallgasmed but pumpkin certainly has earned a spot in my culinary repertoire.  However if you see me with a pumpkin latte in my hand anytime between now and December 21st, feel free to kick me!