I found out about this event a few days ago. Sounded very interesting especially since Turkey was the first country mentioned and I am going to visit Istanbul for the first time in December!

Prior to this dish, you would have mentioned pumpkin dessert to me, and frankly you would not have gotten a very enthusiastic response. NOT ANYMORE.  I guarantee that you will swoon (like I did) when you taste this! I am now going to have to serve it at Thanksgiving dinner, and that’s all there is to it! This dessert encapsulates all that one is looking for in a pumpkin pie, sweetness, richness, smoothness, the wonderful taste of a mellow fruit, with none of the unnecessary additions, such as a crust or eggs or extra spices. Pure flavor. Deep pleasure.

All that is required is roasting a few slices of pumpkin, caramelizing them with some sugar and placing a dollop of thick cream or kaimak on top!

Recipe is from Seductive Flavours of the Levant by Nada Saleh. She brought this recipe back with her from Turkey. I have always been awed by the legacies of the Ottomans who ruled our region for 400 years and had heard stories from my grandmother about al-atraak, as she called them. Not very happy stories I am afraid, but at least in the culinary realm, there is so much that we can be thankful for as  we learned a lot from their extraordinary culture.

I have adapted this recipe  by roasting the pumpkin slices instead of cooking them on the stove and using brown sugar.

INGREDIENTS: This quantity will serve 4

4 (or more) pieces of pumpkin, peeled and placed side by side in a pan

brown sugar (or white sugar) as needed (depends on how many slices of pumpkin you use), about 1 1/2 cup

cream: can be kaimak, or mascarpone, or homemade ashta or heavy whipping cream, whipped

METHOD:

1. Cut the pumpkin, starting at the top, and cut in smallish slices (about 5X7 inches)
2. Peel the pumpkin slices (I was feeling lazy and I left them un-peeled, OK, you just peel them later!
3. Place the pumpkin slices  in a pan large enough so that they can all fit in one layer
4. Cover the pumpkin slices very generously with sugar, cover the pan and let it sit overnight.
5. Heat the oven to 350F and roast the pumpkin slices, basting them with the sugar syrup every so often.
6. Bake until the pumpkin slices are thoroughly cooked and soft, about 45 minutes for 4 large pieces.
7. Turn the broiler on and let the pumpkin slices broil and caramelize for a couple of minutes.
8. Remove from the oven. Serve warm with a dollop of kaimak, or whipped cream or mascarpone cheese.

NOTE:

Kaimak is a thick cream that can be found in ethnic or middle-eastern stores. A good substitute can be mascarpone cheese.