Carbonada is one of the oldest dishes of criollo cooking, the country food of Argentina that grew out of Spanish recipes and the corn, squash and potatoes of the Americas. It is a stew of cubed beef, onion and tomato, thickened with potato, sweet potato and squash, studded with rounds of corn on the cob and, most memorably, sweetened with dried peaches. José Hernández gave it a line in Martín Fierro, the epic poem of the gaucho, where the sabrosa carbonada arrives among the remembered feasts of better days.

The grand way to serve it is inside a zapallo, a big pumpkin roasted whole until its flesh is tender, then filled to the brim with the stew. At the table the cook scrapes a little pumpkin from the walls into each bowl, so the vessel slowly becomes part of the meal. It is a show piece that requires no skill beyond patience and a large enough oven, and it makes the case, with some conviction, that fruit and beef were always meant to share a pot.

It was the food of large families, farmhands and soldiers, made to feed many from one pot, and it remains a cool weather favorite in Argentine homes.

The roasted pumpkin

Ingredients

• 1, about 6 to 8 lb (2.7 to 3.6 kg) round pumpkin, kabocha or other firm squash
• 2 tablespoons (30 g) butter or olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

The carbonada

Ingredients

• 1 cup (150 g) dried peaches
• 2 lb (900 g) beef chuck or bottom round
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) sunflower or other neutral oil
• 2 medium onions
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 celery stalk
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 can, 14 oz (400 g) crushed tomatoes
• 3 cups (720 ml) beef or vegetable broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 medium potatoes
• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 lb (450 g) butternut squash
• 2 ears of corn

Filling and serving

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley or scallion tops

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