2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped


1. ready pork for stewing. this is likely to take 30-45 minutes, and involve cursing.

2. toss pork with salt and pepper. heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a dutch oven; when hot, add part of the pork and sear until browned, stirring occasionally. Remove and repeat with the rest of the pork, adding more oil if necessary.

3. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to pan. add clove and thyme; cook for a moment till fragrant.

4. Add onion and ginger. Cook over medium-high heat until the onion is softened and turning brown.

5. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds to a minute. Add flour and saute until cooked. Add cumin, bay leaf, and tomato paste. Stir well.

6. Return pork to pan with juices. Add vinegar and deglaze pan. Stir in wine and cider. Add pumpkin, cut side down. Bring to boil, turn down heat, and simmer slowly.

7. Cook for 45 minutes or so. Remove pumpkin to bowl. When cool enough, remove pumpkin from skin and cube. Return to pan.

8. cook 30 min. or longer, until pumpkin is done and meat is succulent. Stir in cilantro. Correct seasonings to taste. Serve over rice, or with crusty bread.

*Note that this is by far the most obnoxious part of the recipe. Pork shoulder is a bitch to turn into stewmeat. yes, the recipe says that you can use butt, which is easier- but butt does not make good stew- it contracts and turns into tiny hockey pucks, while shoulder gets succulent and yummy with long cooking. Do remove huge fat deposits- small ones are OK- and definitely remove silver-skin- that doesn't cook down at all, and just gets nasty. You will probably need 3-4.5 pounds of pork shoulder to get the appropriate amount after cleaning.

** freeze the rest of the can in approximately 1-tablespoon blobs, put into a freezer bag when frozen, and they'll be available for other recipes that require small amounts of tomato paste

***jack-o-lantern pumpkins are grown for size, not yumminess. get pie pumpkins. Failing that, get buttercup or hubbard squash, or any other deeply orange, dense winter squash