Pumpkin with Bulgar

What you see on the picture above are the two major ingredients for the meal.

Bulgar (on the left) and Pumpkin (on the right). Not a lot of people (myself, for instance) are familiar with Bulgar, but since I overheard a couple of M1's discussing it and read about it in Cook's Illustrated, I felt like it needed to be cooked. Bulgar is a grain that when cooked in water (2:1 ratio Water:Bulgar) it turns into something similar to grits (according to Ms. gorgeous). On the right is one final picture of bulgar, precooked. Notice the brown color and small size.

After setting up the bulgar to cook, I began to work on the pumpkin. For the recipe I went to my main man, the minimalist, and his book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian!!! Did he have

a recipe for pumpkin? Of course he did.

Turned out to be absolutely delicious. In a large dutch oven, I pan-fried the pumpkin in corn oil to get it soft and browned on both sides. (Pumpkin, I learned, is a lot like squash). Next used the leftover oil with the pumpkin bits to cook up some onions, hot peppers, and garlic. Added some vegetable stock (homemade of course) and red wine before adding the pumpkin back into the dish.

Last step was plating the meal on-top of the bulgar. Flavors of the pumpkin dish were great with nice tomato undertone, fried pumpkin overtone, and a little bit of a bite from the peppers (I think this was the difference maker). The Bulgar added a nice base for the saucy pumpkin with its own unique flavor and texture. Ms. gorgeous and I give it a thumbs up.
Top picture is the final product with Bulgar, bottom picture is the pumpkin portion stewing (or braising).