OK, last pumpkin post for the fall, I promise!  I couldn’t resist posting this because it was so tasty and fun.  I got the recipe/inspiration from Dorie Greenspan’s blog and modified it to fit what I had in the pantry at the time.  This made a great side dish to a hearty chicken stew and is so adaptable! Enjoy!

Step 1:

Find a nice baking pumpkin, not too big.  Cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin and remove the stem area. Clean out the pumpkin of all its entrails.  As much as you can, salt and pepper the inside of the pumpkin.  Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Step 2:

Cut up some stale bread of any type into small cubes, about a half inch square.  If you don’t have stale bread, put the bread in the oven to toast for about 10 minutes before you cut it up. The amount of bread you need will depend on the size of your pumpkin. My pumpkin was about 8 inches in diameter and I used 4 old sandwich/baguette rolls. Put the bread in a bowl and add a few grindings of pepper, 2 minced garlic cloves, about a half teaspoon salt, a half teaspoon sage and a teaspoon of parsley.  Then add cheese. I used about a third cup of soft goat cheese plus a generous amount of parmesan (I don’t know how much really, I just grated it directly into the mixture). Mix this all up and then add liquid.  I used about a half cup cream and a quarter cup dry white wine, but you could use stock or milk.   You want the consistency to be soft and the bread should soak up the liquid, but you don’t want it soupy.  Stuff the pumpkin and add a little more of whatever liquid you used.

Step 3:

Put the pumpkin in a baking pan or on a cookie sheet, and cook the pumpkin until the outside is soft when pierced with a knife and the stuffing is hot. It took mine about an hour, but time will depend on how large and how stuffed your pumpkin is.  You can either cut the pumpkin into slices to serve, or spoon out the insides.