Meaty Pumpkin Souffle

Autumnal Equinox Dinner

Today is an unusual post for me. I am blogging a recipe that actually involves meat and multiple steps. Sometimes I'm not sure I can tell people that I cook a lot when I mostly grind up everything quickly in my food processor. This however, is a complete meal, and turned out quite tasty. 

      On the first day of fall I decided the time had come to buy a small sugar pumpkin from Trader Joes. I usually place pumpkin in the desserts, lattes, and Halloween carving category. However, you can use pumpkin like you would another squash, and add it to savory foods. The sweet potatoes were not in the original recipe, however they help complement the pumpkin taste. If you have never used a real pumpkin in cooking or baking before, give it a try! The color is a much brighter orange than that of the can. Plus you can decorate your table with the pumpkin for a few days before you eat it.

Ingredients Serves 5

• 1 small sugar pumpkin
• Roughly 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 T coconut oil
• 1/2 yellow onion diced
• 1 clove garlic, or 1 frozen cube
• 2 C fresh spinach, finely chopped
• 1 C fresh basil, finely chopped
• 1.2 t salt
• 1/2 T ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t ground nutmeg
• 1/2 t fresh ginger
• 4 egg whites

Directions

1. Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds (save them for roasting). Bake at 350 for ~ 20 minutes
2. Peel 2 sweet potatoes and steam or bake. (Time depends on size)
3. Cook the chopped onion in the coconut oil in a large skillet. 
4. Add the ground beef and cook until browned.
5. Add the garlic, salt and pepper and mix well.
6. Stir in the spinach and basil and remove from heat.
7. Spread the meat mixture evenly into an 11 x 7 glass baking dish
8. Place the cooked pumpkin in a food processor (after scooping it out of its skin) and blend until smooth. Add the cinnamon nutmeg and ginger.
9. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until they are stiff.
10. Fold the pumpkin mixture into the egg whites
11. Spread over the meat and bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
12. Serve while warm.

Note:
If you are not confident in how your crowd will receive this (it looks pretty different), call it mashed yams over beef. I did this and received good reviews instead of skeptical questions. I am not even sure if they realized there were eggs or pumpkins in there. Sometimes its all about the nomenclature.  If you are pressed for time, you could serve the souffle part only over applesauce for breakfast or dessert.