Anniversary Shenanigans Part II: Stuffed Pumpkin

My SO got it into his head that he really wanted me to make a stuffed pumpkin. Apparently his ex had made one once and it was super cool and tasty (and I'll forgive him asking me to make something his ex made, as he is generally wonderful and sweet, and rarely asks for anything). 

So to the internet I went!

She had apparently made some kind of stew inside of it...but I was thinking more of a solid stuffing. I found this recipe http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-savory-stuffed-pumpkin-with-sausage-and-gruyere-225029

Good jumping off point! Now I'm not a huge fan of bread pudding. Or french toast. Egg in the nest is about the best egg/bread mash up if you ask me. But I AM a huge fan of cornbread stuffing. 

So I made a list for SO to pick up ingredients and sent him off to the store. 

Well what he came back with...well wasn't exactly what was on the list. I had planned to use unflavored pure cornbread stuffing that I've had prior experience with, which turns out well and you can flavor yourself. But he picked up a package of pre-seasoned Pepperidge Farm cornbread stuffing instead (which was already like his third trip to the store for this, the dear). So I rolled with it. He also forgot heavy cream, so I used a bit of almond milk I had in the fridge. 

So here's what I came up with.

I foolishly didn't take a photo of the pumpkin itself, but took a photo of the stuffed acorn squash
I made with the TONS of leftover stuffing fixings we had. I've adjusted the recipe so you won't have that "problem"

Great for anniversaries, fall dinners, or possibly even a Thanksgiving showstopper.  Might be especially awesome to sub in tempeh or a good veggie sausage for the smoked sausage and make a vegetarian holiday centerpiece.

Ingredients:

3 lb Pumpkin (buttercup or butternut squash, or 3 acorn)
1 medium leek
1-1.5 lb smoked sausage
Cornbread Stuffing (⅓-½ of a package of Pepperidge Farm)
¼ cup dry white wine
½ tsp Dried thyme
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
½ cup Dried cranberries
2-3 cups swiss chard
1 eggs
¼ cup Milk or heavy cream

3-4 oz gruyere cheese
½ tsp Garlic powder
¼ tsp Ground red pepper

Cut open the top of the pumpkin and scoop out the guts. The hole in the top should be at least 4 inches so it is easy to stuff. Save the seeds if you want. Ideally oil and salt the insides (I didn't really do this but thought I should have). Chop the smoked sausage into rough small cubes and saute in a pan until they render and get crispy on the edges. While that’s going split the leek in half, cut off the dark greens and slice into strips. Put the strips into a bowl of cold water and swish to wash off the grit, making sure that they separate so all the dirt comes out. 

Add the leeks the pan with the sausage and saute. Clean the swiss chard and tear the leaves into roughly bite sized pieces (remember they will shrink when they cook so a if they are a little large that's OK). Chop the stems as well (or at least some of them) to add too. Throw them in the pan and let them wilt. Once they have started to do so, deglaze the pan with the white wine and add the cranberries. Also add ½ tsp thyme, ¼ tsp ground red pepper, and ½ tsp garlic powder and stir. Let it all cook a short while longer and turn the heat off. Turn the oven on to pre-heat to 375 degrees.

Add the ⅓-½ of a bag of cornbread mix to a large bowl (if you use unflavored cornbread stuffing all the better but you’ll need to add salt, and probably double your other spices other than the red pepper. Take your gruyere and either grate it into the bowl or cube it into 1/4 inch cubes and toss in with the stuffing. If you grate it in the overall result is a little creamier but the gruyere taste is more spread out. If you cube it, you get little bites of gruyere that I thought was better. Pour in the hot veggie and sausage mix and stir until combined. In a smaller bowl whisk one egg with 1/4 cup of milk and 1 tbsp of dijon mustard. Pour over the stuffing mix and fold together. The stuffing mix should be just moistened.

Stuff the pumpkin or squash. Put it on a sheet tray lined with foil and throw it in the oven for about an hour. If you’d like, cover the pumpkin with the top until the last 30 minutes. I like the crispy bits so I probably would leave the top off the whole time. If it’s a squash, you don’t have a choice! Also if it's squash, mound the stuffing around the top to get your ideal squash to stuffing ratio.

After an hour, check to see if a knife passes easily through it. Pro-tip: use a dull knife like a butter knife as a sharper one will pass through easily even though it isn't as cooked as you'd like. 

Look at that lovely browning. The swiss chard got all nice and crispy on the edges too. The chard really added something so I really don't recommend omitting it out or subbing it. If you must, sub in kale, as spinach wouldn't stand up well to the roasting and might add more liquid than you really want. 

  Let it cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. 

 

You can either slice through the pumpkin and serve in wedges or scoop it out with the pumpkin flesh for a less fussy approach. 

Leftovers can be layered together in a tupperware, or if it’s squashes just stored in a large container whole. 

One final note: I used yellow acorn squash as they had it in my grocery store, I hadn't tried it and they were a good size to make a half squash a single serving portion. I wouldn't recommend them. They weren't as sweet as a normal green/orange acorn squash or pumpkin. I think that sweetness goes really well with the savory stuffing.  Also, make sure you use a pie or eating pumpkin, not a jack o'lantern pumpkin! I think those are generally not good eats...

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment if you are out there!