Roasted Pumpkin Filled with Everything Good
How could you not stuff a pumpkin with everything good? Especially when it’s a week before Halloween and you already have foot-long icicles hanging from your roof.
I met Dorie Greenspan last year in Austin. I recognized her son first, sitting on the arm of her chair in the hotel lounge. They had been (and still are) opening a series of pop-up cookie shops called Beurre & Sel, and I had more than a little cookie crush. Whomever I was with – someone blocked out of my memory by the brightness of that Dorie sun – introduced me, and we had a short chat, and I smiled all the way back to my room.
The next evening I was at a party – with about 500 other people – when I spotted Dorie chatting with Jacques Pépin a few yards away. She turned and caught my eye, and the two of them came through the crowd, directly toward me. I assumed she was coming to say hi to someone standing in my vicinity but no – she had come over to say hi, and ask me how my day was. And then I met Jacques, who plopped an ice cube into his glass of white wine. And I may have pinched myself, or jabbed myself in the leg with a fork, and possibly skipped back to my hotel, I can’t remember.
I came home and immediately bought Around My French Table and it sat by my bed, to be occasionally flipped through but mostly to act as a sort of second end table-slash-laundry stool. And I watched as people cooked from it and posted about it, and I kept meaning to follow suit but didn’t. And the one recipe that was at the same time the most appealing and unappealing was the whole roasted pumpkin filled with everything good. Because how lovely is a soft, roasted pumpkin that has caved in on itself and its bread-cheese-bacon filling? Except that I have never been a huge fan of pumpkin. Then again, I’ve always associated it with pie – if I think of it as a winter squash, I love it. (That’s right, I don’t like pumpkin pie. I think I may be the only one.)
So this week as the boys sat at the kitchen table and hollowed out pumpkins – small sugar pumpkins, those smaller, smoother Jack-o-Lantern-looking ones – I decided to save one from getting a face, and instead stuffed it with everything good, and baked it. The idea is that the squash gets soft as it roasts, and you scoop it out along with the cheesy, bready innards, almost like a gooey gratin.
And it was easy – and it was good. Next time, I think I’ll bake a curry in the pumpkin – really, you could bake or braise anything that goes with squash inside one.
Roasted Pumpkin Filled with Everything Good
AuthorJuliePreheat the oven to 350F. Slice the top off the sugar pumpkin, like you would if you were carving a Jack-o-lantern, and scoop out the seeds. Drizzle the inside with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put it on a parchment or foil-lined baking sheet and put it into the oven while you prepare the stuffing.
In a bowl, toss the bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, thyme, half & half, some salt and pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Remove the pumpkin from the oven (if you put it in) and stuff the bread mixture into it, letting it overflow a bit, drizzling any cream in the bottom of the bowl over top. Put the lid on and put the pumpkin back into the oven for about an hour.
Remove the lid and bake for another half hour, until the pumpkin is soft and slumped over, and the top is golden and crispy. To serve, scoop out the soft pumpkin with the filling.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F. Slice the top off the sugar pumpkin, like you would if you were carving a Jack-o-lantern, and scoop out the seeds. Drizzle the inside with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put it on a parchment or foil-lined baking sheet and put it into the oven while you prepare the stuffing.
In a bowl, toss the bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, thyme, half & half, some salt and pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Remove the pumpkin from the oven (if you put it in) and stuff the bread mixture into it, letting it overflow a bit, drizzling any cream in the bottom of the bowl over top. Put the lid on and put the pumpkin back into the oven for about an hour.
Remove the lid and bake for another half hour, until the pumpkin is soft and slumped over, and the top is golden and crispy. To serve, scoop out the soft pumpkin with the filling.
This looks great! We got a pumpkin in our CSA this week and I was at a loss as to what to do with it – this looks like a great option!
That sounds and looks terrific. No you aren’t the only one that dislikes pumpkin pie – hubby’s not a fan either.
I love the way you write. I always feel like I’m right there with you. I wanted you to know that I sent your beans cookbook to my son’s girlfriend in Ontario last year. I am in the “getting to know you” phase and like her so very much. She uses the cookbook at least a few times a week and it is the go-to birthday or house warming gift for all her friends. So Jacques and Dorie make bee lines for you and so would lots of other less famous fans! Can’t wait to try this recipe, I am enjoying your non-meat recipes lately. Have a great snowy weekend!
I did a stuffed pumpkin for Thanksgiving–filled it with a wild rice/brown rice mixture that worked.
This is one of my fave recipes from the over 100 that I have cooked/ baked. It’s on the menu for Hallowe’en evening this year I think
I mean this with the utmost respect-who cares about the pumpkin?! The part about Dorie and Jacques gave me heart palpitations!
You have no idea how pleased I am to learn that there is someone else in this world who does not like pumpkin pie! Never have. As for all other things pumpkin – chili, bread, lattes, scones, pasta, etc. – love em!
I made this last night… so yummy!
I was just looking at my little pumpkin, thinking to cook it or carve it. Now I know the answer. Thanks Julie!
This is one of my favourite cookbooks, yet I’ve never thought to make this recipe. I think it’s time to change that!
Do you think this would work fine with any squash? I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin (pie or not). I have an acorn squash in my fridge right now…
I don’t like pumpkin pie, either. I knew there was a reason I liked you!
Pumpkin pie is number 2 on my list of most hated foods! Glad to see there are others out there that dislike it as well, and surely feel my pain on Thanksgiving and Chrismtas…”what do you mean you don’t like pumpkin pie”!!
ohhhhhhhh, yes.
SO making this.
i needed this reminder. thank you, thank you….
m
I don’t really like pumpkin pie, either. But a stuffed backed pumpkin I could definitely get used to! 🙂 Thank you
Jesus! That looks so damn good. Maybe I’ll roast one of these guys in SFS class tonight!
Hi Julie,
this recipe sounds (and looks) fantastic! I definitely will have to make this as well!
I just moved to Calgary (well, actually Okotoks) from Berlin, Germany, and am now checking out the Calgary food(-writer) scene.
Your’s was the first blog i found, and what can I say? I’m a fan.
best wishes,
Julia
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Why is this in the vegetarian section? It calls for bacon.
V – you’re right! I must have classified it because the bacon is optional – it can be easily made vegetarian. Does that help?
We have made this recipe a fall tradition at my house! Thank you so much. We love it!
Made this tonight, YUM! My 4 kids loved it too 🙂