Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good

Last Sunday MD and I hosted two of our dear friends over for a cozy dinner at MD’s Grandmother’s. It’s a little late in the pumpkin season, but there is a unique pumpkin recipe that I was dying to make. I was able to find a pumpkin at our local Co-Op, so I suppose it’s not too late for you to give this a try. If you can’t locate a pumpkin, flag this recipe for next November. It’s a keeper and a sure crowd-pleaser.

Before our friends arrived we prepared the main course, a delectable stuffed pumpkin. I came across this recipe while listening to NPR last November. It’s rather simple and extremely delicious. 

You begin by cutting out a cap at the top of the pumpkin. Then, stuff it with cheese, herbs, bread and a little cream and pop into the oven to bake for about two hours.

But before we began dinner, we started with a small plate of appetizers. We nibbled on a spicy bean dip with pita chips and brie cheese with Melba toast. It was the perfect starter to our hearty meal.

After nearly an hour of chatting by the fire, we moved on to dinner.

Isn't she a beauty?

Warm, cheesy, amazing.

It may seem odd to eat a pumpkin this way, but it’s totally not. Think of it like squash. It has the same texture and it perfectly healthy for you. Just don’t think about all the bread, cheese and half and half you stuffed it with earlier.

Bon appétit, my friends!

Christi

Baked Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good

Makes 4 generous servings.

Ingredients:

1 pumpkin, about 3 pounds

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 pound stale bread, thinly sliced and cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1/4 pound cheese, such as Gruyere, Emmenthal, cheddar, or a combination, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

2–4 garlic cloves (to taste), split, germ removed, and coarsely chopped

4 strips bacon, cooked until crisp, drained, and chopped

About 1/4 cup snipped fresh chives or sliced scallions

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

About 1/3 cup heavy cream

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Directions:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment, or find a Dutch oven with a diameter that's just a tiny bit larger than your pumpkin. If you bake the pumpkin in a casserole, it will keep its shape, but it might stick to the casserole, so you'll have to serve it from the pot — which is an appealingly homey way to serve it. If you bake it on a baking sheet, you can present it freestanding, but maneuvering a heavy stuffed pumpkin with a softened shell isn't so easy.

Using a very sturdy knife — and caution — cut a cap out of the top of the pumpkin (think Halloween jack-o'-lantern). It's easiest to work your knife around the top of the pumpkin at a 45-degree angle. You want to cut off enough of the top to make it easy for you to work inside the pumpkin. Clear away the seeds and strings from the cap and from inside the pumpkin. Season the inside of the pumpkin generously with salt and pepper, and put it on the baking sheet or in the pot. Toss the bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, and herbs together in a bowl. Season with pepper — you probably have enough salt from the bacon and cheese, but taste to be sure — and pack the mix into the pumpkin. The pumpkin should be well filled — you might have a little too much filling, or you might need to add to it. Stir the cream with the nutmeg and some salt and pepper and pour it into the pumpkin. Again, you might have too much or too little — you don't want the ingredients to swim in cream, but you do want them nicely moistened. (But it's hard to go wrong here.)

Put the cap in place and bake the pumpkin for about 2 hours — check after 90 minutes — or until everything inside the pumpkin is bubbling and the flesh of the pumpkin is tender enough to be pierced easily with the tip of a knife. Because the pumpkin will have exuded liquid, I like to remove the cap during the last 20 minutes or so, so that the liquid can bake away and the top of the stuffing can brown a little.

When the pumpkin is ready, carefully, very carefully — it's heavy, hot, and wobbly — bring it to the table or transfer it to a platter that you'll bring to the table.

Serving

You have choices: you can cut wedges of the pumpkin and filling; you can spoon out portions of the filling, making sure to get a generous amount of pumpkin into the spoonful; or you can dig into the pumpkin with a big spoon, pull the pumpkin meat into the filling, and then mix everything up. I'm a fan of the pull-and-mix option. Served in hearty portions followed by a salad, the pumpkin is a perfect cold-weather main course; served in generous spoonfuls or wedges, it's just right alongside the Thanksgiving turkey.