Roasted Pumpkin Cheese Fondue
- 1 15-inch whole grain baguette, cut into 1/2-inch slices
- 1 medium orange pumpkin (in the 7-pound range)
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 2 1/2 cups coarsely grated Gruyere
- 2 1/2 cups coarsely grated Emmental
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat oven to 425F with rack in lower third. Lightly toast baguette slices on a baking sheet in oven until tops are crisp but not golden, about 7 minutes. Remove and let cool. Remove top of pumpkin by cutting a 3-inch circle in the top. Scrape out seeds and any loose fibers from inside pumpkin and pumpkin top with a spoon (save seeds to roastyum!). Sprinkle inside of pumpkin with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Whisk together milk, broth, nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a bowl. Mix together cheeses in another bowl. Put a layer of toasted bread in bottom of pumpkin, then cover with about 1 cup cheese and about 1/2 cup milk mixture. Continue layering bread, cheese, and milk mixture until pumpkin is filled to about 1/2 inch from top, using all of milk mixture. (You may have some bread and cheese left over.) Cover pumpkin with top and put in an small roasting pan. Brush outside of pumpkin all over with olive oil. Bake until pumpkin is tender and filling is puffed, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Serve the whole pumpkin at the tablescoop out fondue while scraping the pumpkin flesh out as well.