Thursday, October 27, 2011

French Friday with Dorie: Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good

PUMPKIN STUFFED WITH A CHEESY BREAD FILLING

MY SLICE
My pumpkin is baking.  I can smell the bacon and spices and it’s aroma is delicious.  I’ll take this time to write up my post as the baking time is about 2 hours.
"HALLOWEEN" PUMPKIN VS PIE PUMPKIN
I had first thought to use a small, sweet, non-stringy pie pumpkin, but decided that it would not provide a cavity large enough for very much of the cheesy-bread filling that would season the pumpkin and add so much to this dish.  With this in mind, I opted for a small, but much-larger- than-pie-pumpkin, a field pumpkin...or Halloween pumpkin.

I decided to roast my smaller, sweeter pie pumpkins along with today’s pumpkin and use them for their intent...pie.

ALL CLEANED AND SEEDS SAVED
I’ve always liked squashes, especially with sweet toppings like butter and brown sugar or maple syrup, but pumpkin is quite bland, so I’ve never given it the same use.

I NEED TO TRIPLE THE RECIPE TO FILL THIS "SMALL" PUMPKIN
When we had a huge garden while living in Upstate New York, we grew a few varieties of pumpkin.  I remember cleaning some similar to the pumpkin being used today, and  filling their insides with a stew-like mixture which was delicious. 
THE FILLING IS READY
But I’ve never used a filling similar to Dorie’s cheesy bread filling.  I admit I’m skeptical.  The filling looks and smells great, but that pumpkin was just begging to become a Jack-O-Lantern.  At this point, I’m more excited about making my pie from fresh sweet pumpkin.


ALL STUFFED...

AND OVEN READY


Part 2
OK...I learned something today.  This pumpkin is delicious!  The stuffing flavors, which were very tasty, permeated the pumpkin flesh, and the pumpkin, which I purchased from Trader Joe’s was not stringy or flat tasting as I had expected it would be...in fact, not stringy at all.

JUST OUT OF THE OVEN
When Hubby and No.1 Son tasted the stuffing they both commented that they thought it had a lot of meat and asked what was in the stuffing (they thought it was stuffed with something like meatloaf).  Well, just some bacon...I used a pound for my pumpkin (probably cooked down to 1/2 pound).  I found that I had to 3X the recipe to fill my pumpkin which I thought was relatively small.

I used a good whole grain bread and switched out the cheese for a spicy pepper jack, a good melting cheese, as I wanted more flavor with all the bread and cream.  It worked well.  I baked this stuffed pumpkin for two hours.  (The pie pumpkins were done in 1 hour.)

Note:  There was plenty of oven space to bake Dorie's pumpkin and  two pie pumpkins...the first hour.
And, then there was room to bake two pies with Dorie's pumpkin during the second hour.

 I'm feeling energy efficient.
By grabbing 2 sides of my silicone baking sheet I easily lifted the pumpkin, which stayed whole, from the baking pan.
And I must admit that I’m thinking of this dish as a new Thanksgiving dinner vegetable.  It would grace our table beautifully and we always like to try something different each year. It would be perfectly seasonal.  This baked pumpkin is pretty when sliced and would not compete with pumpkin pie which is sweet and with different spices.

Just for fun, I saved all my seeds for roasting, and I’ll let my kiddies try them next time they come....maybe tomorrow.
A SLICE OF DORIE'S STUFFED PUMPKIN AND A SLICE OF FRESH APPLE PIE...AND I'M GOOD
I know, you all thought I was baking pumpkin pies...well,  I'll bake the fresh pumpkin pies tomorrow after my little pumpkins have cooled and that filling has been prepared.  What's a day without pumpkin during the week before Halloween?


Happy Halloween to all my cyberfriends...have a very fun and safe holiday!!!

23 comments:

  1. I'd be more than good between the stuffed pumpkin and that apple pie. Glad to see that you picked out a great pumpkin for this recipe. Happy Halloween to you too!

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  2. Yum! Both the pumpkin and the pie look delicious!

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  3. I have a hard time focusing on pumpkins when there's pie to look at. Mmmmmmm....pie. Your pumpkins look great, too, though! I'm glad you were pleased with this one. We loved it.

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  4. Miss Kris, your stuffed pumpkin looks incredible! And you really surprised me with that apple pie...I really thought you were baking your pumpkin pies at the same time too!

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  5. I really loved this one too and will make again. Your pumpkin pie looks amazing, I have crust envy :) Happy Halloween!

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  6. Kris, Lovely post! We really enjoyed this too. I am adding it to my Thanksgiving menu. Yours looks awesome! And so does your pie!

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  7. I loved your before and after commentary! I saved my seeds too! We loved this, but you were far more efficient than me! I never would have gotten around to the pumpkin if I had been thinking about pie!

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  8. Your pumpkin after it has been in the oven, looks almost golden. Great you liked it to.

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  9. The apple pie has my name on it! My weakness....your pumpkin is gorgeous!

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  10. When I opened your blog & saw your pumpkin, I thought it was stuffed with shredded beef, so that wheat bread does make it look meaty.

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  11. I agree, it's about time I learned a lot of new things. The old saying, you
    are never too old to learn is true. This whole experience with FFWD has
    been fantastic, and I have had a lot of fun. Your pumpkin looks great, as do your pies. Tricia and I will be revisiting this at Thanksgiving in Vermont.

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  12. My mouth is drooling after that last shot of the apple pie - oh my goodness that crust with the sugar looks out of this world. Nana and I are big pumpkin pie fans and have enjoyed them for as long as I can recall....although I am chuckling to admit we are delighted with the store bought/frozen kind. This was a very fun dish to prepare and we plan to play around with it some more during the Thanksgiving holiday. Not sure how energy efficient the efforts will be - but that's what holidays are all about :)

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  13. Your pumpkin looks great! And a larger pumpkin like that would be perfect for Thanksgiving.

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  14. LoL! glad you enjoyed making this one! You could vary the stuffing for the pumpkin each year too, it could become a very tasty tradition!

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  15. My extra pumpkins turned into pumpkin bread :-)
    If I could make it work with the turkey in the oven, this would definitely find it's way onto the holiday table.
    Have a great weekend.

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  16. I first rolled down to your caramelized snack (which looks and sounds delicious). Since I have all the ingredients on hand, I am making your recipe this week-end. Thanks you. Your Pumpkin dish turned out beautifully, didn't it? I especially liked your presentation on the plate. Mine didn't slice as well as didn't look as nice. Godd job.

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  17. Your pumpkin looks amazing! And your flavors sound wonderful.
    I'm sending the turkeys outside this year, just so that we can have these. They are so cute.
    I used a TJ pumpkin too, but since I was using a different filling, it worked out perfectly!

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  18. I wish we had pie pumpkins here - oddly enough, you can'y but such a thing here. This year for the first time ever, I have seen some enormous Halloween pumpkins (Halloween is catching on here), but certainly not the range of shapes and sizes that you have over there. It looks great!

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  19. Your pumpkin looks fabulous...but I really want a slice of your pie :)

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  20. Lovely post! I was surprised at how well the flesh of the field pumpkin I used turned out, too. That apple pie looks perfect.

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  21. I bet the whole grain bread gave it a nice nutty flavor. Your pumpkin looks delicious and I am glad everyone liked it. I roasted my seeds as well. What a great snack. Your pie looks wonderful as well!

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  22. We loved this one too, it really was delicious and much easier to throw together than I had anticipated. Happy to hear that it worked with whole grain bread, I thought about using a heavier bread but decided to stay safe and stick to the recipe the first time. Next time I'll definitely throw something heartier in.

    Happy Halloween!

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  23. I'm glad you were surprised by the texture of the pumpkin and learned it was good in a new way, in addition to pie, of course. I didn't love it as a whole, though I really enjoyed the stuffing. I roasted my seeds too. What a great snack!

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