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Roasted Pumpkin with Mulled Sorghum Glaze from The Southern Foodie

Roasted Pumpkin with Mulled Sorghum Glaze

We’ve officially been Southerners for 5 1/2 years now (holy crap has it been that long?) and I am still slowly earning by Southern credentials. So far I’ve mastered the art of grits and buttermilk biscuits, although my fried chicken still needs work.

Thanks to a new book by local Nashville foodie Chris Chamberlain, I can continue to hone my down-home know-how with delicious results.

The Southern Foodie is Chris’ compilation of 134 recipes from 100 of the South’s best restaurants and eateries. Subtitled “100 Places to Eat in the South Before You Die (and the Recipes That Made Them Famous),” the book is a mouthwatering collection of southern fare: both traditional and groundbreaking. It serves as both a cookbook and a travel guide in one (and be sure to click through to the end of this post for your chance to win a copy!)

Roasted Pumpkin with Mulled Sorghum Glaze

Although I’ve got nearly a dozen recipes in this booked marked as MAKE IMMEDIATELY, this roasted pumpkin recipe seemed like a logical starting point given the season and the fact that I had two beautiful heirloom pumpkins sitting on the hutch from our CSA.

(A side note: this recipe comes from the Capitol Grille, a Nashville gem located inside the Hermitage Hotel. Recognize the name? Maybe because my last decadent recipe was also inspired by a CG dish. Perhaps I need to get my butt down there sooner rather than later, eh?)

For those outside of the Southeast, sweet sorghum syrup is syrup made from sorghum cane, a grass in the same family as sugar cane. It is sweet with a complex, molasses-like flavor. If you can’t find sorghum where you are, a mild molasses would be a good substitute in this recipe.

I could see this recipe elevating the side dishes on your Thanksgiving table to epic new levels. We topped this vegetarian side with a leg of duck we had leftover in the freezer (I try to ignore the fact that the cat got to eat the other leg during one of his many homemade food trials). Simply browned in a skillet and baked at 325 for about 90 minutes, the leg was tender and savory and was a perfect compliment to the sweet and sticky pumpkin.

Roasted Pumpkin with Mulled Sorghum Glaze

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Ingredients:

1 (5 pound) North Georgia Candy pumpkin or any good roasting pumpkin
10 medium pearl onions, peeled
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
salt and white pepper

For Glaze:
1/2 cup sorghum syrup*
1/4 cup mulled cider
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed

2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
salt and white pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the seeds and pulp from the pumpkin. Cut the flesh from half of the pumpkin into 1/2-inch cubes; you should have about 2 cups. In a large bowl, toss the pumpkin with the pearl onions, butter, salt, and pepper. Place in a roasting pan and roast in the oven until caramelized and tender yet firm, no more than 25 to 30 minutes. It is important to keep an eye on the pumpkin as it roasts, as it will go from firm to too soft quickly. You want the pumpkin to begin to caramelize but not to overcook.

To make the sorghum glaze, combine the sorghum syrup and cider in a small saucepan over medium heat and reduce by half. Fold in the butter.

Toss the pumpkin with half of the sorghum glaze and chopped sage. Return to the oven and reheat. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Top with additional sorghum glaze as desired.

Recipe from The Southern Foodie: 100 Places to Eat in the South Before You Die

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154 Comments

  1. I love all Southern Pies! I aspire to make them all:)

  2. I want to try venicin!

  3. I just adore sausage gravy and biscuits, but I think I would have to go with grits. Never tried them……

  4. Already a fan of Love and Olive Oil on Facebook under Rachael Abel! :) Love the recipe!

  5. I’m obsessed with anything bacon (and it’s pretty obvious through my recipes)! I’ve also been wanting to try kale lately with all of the health nuts out there!

  6. I don’t think I have ever made anything considered “Southern.” Have I not lived?

  7. My favorite southern dish is shrimp and grits. Pretty much anything with grits, really.

  8. I’m a fan of Southern Foodie on Facebook

  9. I’m a fan of Love & Olive Oil on Facebook

  10. I follow you on twitter

  11. My favorite southern dish would have to be fried catfish with all the fixin’s- cream corn, hush puppies, fried okra, and butter beans… It reminds me of summer vacations at the lake with all my family :) I would love to learn how to make a good homemade biscuit topped with sausage gravy!!

  12. I have been wanting to try Jambalaya! Yummmmm!!

  13. I’ve never had authentic southern grits and I’m dying to try them!

  14. I love that you have so many recipes bookmarked to make. That means it should be an amazing book. And this recipe is so perfect for Fall! Love the roasted pumpkin.

  15. Anything with collards!

  16. I love chicken and dumplings :)

  17. I follow @love and olive oil, and have eaten many southern dishes most of my life! Grits, ohhhh, yum! I would love to try beignets, and although I adore collard greens, I don’t know how to fix them.. Yet.

  18. My favorite is fried chicken!

  19. Dyingggg to try biscuits and gravy!

  20. I love comforting Southern chicken and dumplings

  21. Candied yams. Love any recipe that lets you use marshmallows for a course other than dessert.

  22. I’m a fan of The Southern Foodie on Facebook!

  23. I’m a fan of Love & Olive Oil on Facebook!

  24. I love Cheese Grits and Corn Pudding, and of course Carolina BBQ and Sweet Tea (does that count as a food?), and Peach Cobbler and Cherry Pie!

  25. Liked Love & Olive Oil on FB

  26. Liked Southern Foodie on FB

  27. I love shrimp and grits, collards with bacon… but I think I’ll go with Memphis pulled pork

  28. I would love to learn about southern cooking

  29. I’m a fan of yours on Facebook!

  30. I don’t normally like fried foods, but I love fried okra!

  31. Oh man, only ONE Southern dish? If I could have just one, I’d go back in time to go fishing with my grandpa. He’d clean the fish and my grandma would fry it up. Fried fish. Heaven.

  32. I liked the Southern Foodie AND Love and Olive Oil on FB :)

  33. FRIED GREEN TOMATOES!

  34. I liked the Southern Foodie on Facebook

  35. I liked Love and Olive Oil on Facebook

  36. Fried Chicken!

  37. I followed southern foodie on facebook.

  38. I followed love and olive oil on facebook.

  39. I followed on twitter and tweeted about the giveaway!

  40. I need to figure out how to make Lexington BBQ and hush puppies.

  41. Country Fried Steak..which is what we’re having for dinner tonight!

  42. Fried green tomatoes!

  43. Collard greens and grits!

  44. As a southern girl, I have just fell in love with greens the past couple of years. I wish I had appreciated them when I was younger. I just made a great quich last weekend with kale, swiss chard, pancetta, carmelized onions & gruyere. It turned out great!

    Love your blog Lindsay!

    Also, like both L&OO and Southern Foodie on Facebook!

  45. I love fried green tomatoes

  46. Life-long Yankee, but lover of Southern foods here ;) My favorite Southern food is the buttermilk biscuit… yum!

  47. I love Shrimp and Grits, Southern style!

  48. Corn bread and black eyed peas are two of my favorite southern foods.

  49. Shrimp and Grits

  50. I Like The Southern Foodie on Facebook.

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