Day 6: Part II

Ok so I'm sure it's against the rules to make two posts in one day... but there was too much happiness going on this evening to not document it! On our drive to Michigan this weekend, I heard an interview on NPR in which a woman was describing a stuffed pumpkin recipe she created. One of the reasons I love Fall so much is that it gives me the excuse to bake and cook with pumpkin for three straight months. This particular recipe sounded so strangely delicious, I was intrigued. I talked about it all weekend and decided I would find the recipe! 

So, when I got home, I looked it up and found the recipe, went to the grocery store and invited our friends over who so kindly puppy-sat for us this weekend. I set the table with the fancy crystal and Fall decor. I bought some flowers and lit some candles. Impromptu hosting is my favorite kind of hosting... and man, was this a treat! If you're as curious as I was, I'm pasting the recipe below... hope it brings you as much pumpkiny happiness as it brought me :)

 
 

Stuffed Pumpkin

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


Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 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.
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. 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. 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.