Stuffed Sugar Pumpkin
This dish was an experiment for me and I have to say quite a tasty one with all the fall delicious flavors!
Start with three small sugar pumpkins and carefully cut the top off about a quarter way down from the stem and keep that top as a lid for the oven. Clean out the pumpkin with a spoon scraping the sides to remove the seeds. Keep the seeds to roast later with your favorite spices.
You will need:
- 1/2 cup fresh cranberries cut in half
- one large sweet potato cut in 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 cup butternut squash cut in 1/2-inch cubes
- one tartish apple cut in 1/2-inch cubes
- one small chopped onion sauteed to a golden transparent hue
- one half cup uncooked wild rice blend
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
- one pint of homemade or store-bought vegetable broth
- sprig of fresh sage and some thyme chopped small
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 cup real maple syrup
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl except broth
Stuff the pumpkins* and place on a baking dish with the tops on. The tops help the steam stay in the pumpkin to cook the rice.
Add the broth by distributing it between pumpkins
Place the lids on the pumpkin and place on a baking dish in the middle of the oven. *I had so much extra stuffing that I put it in a stoneware casserole dish with a lid and baked it side by side with the stuffed pumpkins. The stoneware food cooked much faster than the pumpkins did. The rice and and the sweet potatoes were still not soft after an hour inside the pumpkin, the pumpkins were cooked though. I had to keep the pumpkins in the oven until the stuffing was cooked and the rice was soft. That took 20 minutes more. Next time I will cook the stuffing separately and the pumpkins face down on parchment and simply stuff the pumpkins after they are cooked.
My son made an applewood smoked pork that he shredded and I thought it was a perfect pairing to the stuffed pumpkins.
He soaked his pork all night in cider, then rubbed the pork roast with a simple salt pepper scrub, then placed in the smoker for 8 hours. When it was done he shredded the pork for serving.
The pumpkins can be stuffed with virtually anything you like, perhaps some kale or spinach, butternut squash soup, rice, and beans like chickpeas, or go sweet and do apple and pears with cinnamon, or pumpkin pie spice. Imagination is the key!
Happy Pumpkin Picking!
Karen
