Patisson Pumpkins

Patisson squash (Curcubita Pepo) is a variety of squash that we harvest in our garden. Its shape is very peculiar, it is flattened and star-shaped. There are white, orange, greenish, yellow, black... The ones we grow are white.

It is considered an old French variety, of which there is data from the 1800s, although Patisson arrived in Europe with the help of the Spanish. Due to geographical discoveries, Old World cuisine was enriched by a vegetable of interest. At first it was treated exclusively as an ornamental plant, in the end it became definitively established in European homes.

In the photographs you can see the pumpkin plants, their large intense yellow flowers and the bees pollinating and helping to fertilize them, so that the fruit is later formed.

In the kitchen, they are highly appreciated for their excellent taste qualities. Its flavor is reminiscent of chestnut puree. It has very fine and firm meat. And also, they are easy to digest.

It has hardly any calories and is very rich in vitamins (they contain vitamin C, B1, B2, PP, calcium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, carotene). It is ideal for use in baby and children's diets, in addition to being perfect for overweight and high blood pressure people.

It can be prepared in many ways, both in cold dishes and in hot dishes. They can be baked, sautéed, steamed, fried, grilled, stuffed...

Difficulty: Easy

Preparation time: 1 hour

Ingredients for 2 people

• 2 Patisson pumpkins of 500 grams
• 6 prawns
• 1 tomato
• 1 green pepper Italian
• 1 egg
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt

We wash the vegetables.

In a steam pot, add 1.5 liters of water and a little salt. We put the pumpkins to cook in the upper part of the pot and cover.

Two pumpkins of about 500 grams will take about 45 minutes until they are tender.

To make sure they are ready, we will prick them with a knife and notice that both the skin and the pulp are tender.

When the pumpkins are cooked and cool enough not to burn, we will cut off the top. We will empty the pulp, and remove the seeds. We will reserve the pulp for the filling.

While the pumpkins are cooking, we also put the egg to cook. To do this, we put water to boil in a small pot. Once the water boils, add the egg, being careful not to crack it. We cook for 15 minutes and remove. We can also run them through cold water, so that it will be easier to peel the shell later. When they are cold, peel the peel and set them aside.

We will continue with the preparation of this exquisite dish by frying the prawns in a pan. To do this, we will sprinkle a little extra virgin olive oil on the bottom of the pan, we will raise the heat so that it is very hot and we will add the prawns. When they are golden, we will turn them so that they brown equally on both sides. As soon as they are cooked, we remove them and let them cool, and then peel them and chop four of them, leaving two whole ones for decorating the pumpkins.

To prepare the filling it is necessary to sauté pepper and tomato. To do this, we chop the pepper and put it in the same pan where we fried the prawns. This way it will be much tastier, as it will absorb all the substance that the prawns have left in the oil.

We add a pinch of salt

We cut the tomato into very small pieces. One option is to put the tomato through the blender to obtain a smoother texture. We add it to the pan and cook until the sauce is almost finished. Add the chopped pumpkin pulp and cook for a few more minutes.

Remove from heat and add the chopped prawns and chopped egg.

To finish this recipe, with the help of a spoon, we will fill the pumpkins with the mixture obtained in the previous step and we will decorate the pumpkins by putting a prawn on top of each one.

Minutes before eating it, we heat it in the microwave.

Bon appetit and enjoy this healthy and delicious cooking dish.