Meet Barbara

Posted by kathryn in Shopping Basket, Antioxidants, Vegetables, Eggs, Vegetable recipes and Main courses

What a cutie, this is a Barbara pumpkin and she appeared in my last Lettuce Deliver box. I was intrigued, as I’ve never heard of or seen Barbara pumpkins before. To me she looks like a cross between the shape of a butternut and the colour and markings of a jap pumpkin.

On the inside she was a rich orange colour, much stronger than a butternut. Richard’s been calling her Barbarapapa since she arrived.

I’m not sure I’d ever had pumpkin until I came to Australia and in fact when I first arrived here I just didn’t get it – what was the fixation with pumpkin soup in this country? Then I had roast pumpkin and now it’s one of my favourite vegetables, especially roasted as per the beginning of this Jamie Oliver recipe.

Pumpkin, as with other orange vegetables, contains a lot of the antioxidant beta-carotene. It’s also a good source of potassium and only contains about 150 Kj per 100g. While it does have a high Glycemic Index (GI), it’s only about 5% carbohydrate and you’d have to eat a lot for it to negatively affect your blood sugar levels, it has a low Glycemic Load (GL).

I’ve been mulling over what to do with Barbara since she arrived, as I thought she deserved something special. Then last night I finally decided on a Pumpkin, Fetta & Tomato Tian. This is veeeeeery loosely based on a series of recipes from Elizabeth David’s Is There a Nutmeg in the House, where she describes a tian as:

“a certain proportion of freshly cooked green vegetables . . . bulking them out, if you like, with potatoes or rice and mixing them all up with eggs beaten as for an omelette”

Given the complete lack of green vegetables in my recipe, I do have to reiterate, this is a VERY loosely based recipe and apologies to Ms David, but it’s delicious. Oh yes and if you can’t find Barbara, either butternut or jap pumpkin would be fine.

Pumpkin, Fetta & Tomato Tian

Serves 4

• 1kg(ish) Barbara pumpkin
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
• 1 tin crushed tomatoes
• 1 tspn dried oregano
• 1/3 cup jasmine rice
• 1 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 200g fetta, crumbled

Turn the oven on to 190C.

Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds. I like pumpkin skin, so I normally just cut off any bits that are blemished. Cut into roughly 2 cm sized pieces.

Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil into a heavy based pan and put over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and pumpkin plus a small pinch of salt.

Stir to combine, turn the heat down to low and then put the lid on. Leave the vegetables to sweat for about 10 mins, stirring occasionally.

Add the crushed tomatoes, oregano, rice and water. Stir to combine and then simmer gently for about 20 minutes until the pumpkin is soft.

Beat the eggs and the cheese together and season.

Pour this mixture over the pumpkin and immediately put it in the oven. The eggs and pumpkin / tomato mixture will run together a bit, but this is fine.

Leave the tian to cook for 10 – 15 minutes until the eggs are set, slightly risen and beginning to turn golden brown.

We had this by itself, but you could also have it with a green salad and some crusty bread.

05 July, 2006