Pumpkin Stuffed with Cheese and other delights

Delicious pumpkin

You could vary the ingredients and spices in this dish to suit yourself, but if I say so myself, this makes an amazing vegetarian dish that is perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  Or just during pumpkin season.   It is a lovely centre piece….you could bake a large one to share or smaller individual ones.    The Chief Taster enjoyed it, despite his misgivings about pumpkin dishes, and is now “sleeping it off”.     That’s a good sign in this house.  

I used cheese, garlic, spinach and walnuts to stuff the pumpkin and it was delicious.   You could throw in meat and other veggies if you wanted..use the cheese as a base and add to it.  For a vegan version, I would suggest using a vegan cream as a base (cashew nut cream) and add veggies away!   I just loved this…and will be playing around with this again!    I used small pumpkins so we could have one each.   A large one (the size of pumpkins that you would carve for Halloween) would be great for about 4 of you, but try to get small individual ones..it’s cuter.   When you eat it, use a spoon to dig into the cooked pumpkin on the inside and mix it up with the cheesey, garlickly filling…just delicious!

INGREDIENTS

2 small eating pumpkins

4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

3 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped

250g Emmenthal cheese

100g Cheddar cheese   (you can vary the mix of cheese to your own taste)

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1 cup fresh spinach

1/3 cup cream

1/2 tspn chilli flakes

1/2 tspn sage, dried

1/2 tspn nutmeg

salt and pepper

Creamy, filling..perfect for one.

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F degrees.
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper (or baking dish)
• Cut the lid off the pumpkins and place to the side.
• Scope out the seeds and stringy flesh.
• Season the inside of the pumpkins with salt, pepper and the nutmeg.
• Mix the cheese, garlic, spinach, sage and walnuts in a bowl.
• Place the filling into the pumpkins and pack down.  Push as much as you can in.
• Pour the cream over the topping, slowly so as to let the cream work it’s way down.
• Sprinkle the chilli flakes on top of the filling.
• Place the pumpkin lids on top and bake for 2 hours.
• Eat and enjoy!

Serves 2 (if using 2 small pumpkins)