Playing with Pumpkins, Part One

This post is the tale of two pumpkins, both of which were purchased (at separate times) from a local farmers market and a local produce stand.



You see, I want to cook with pumpkins but the ones I've bought in the grocery store are just icky in flavor.  Jack-o'lantern pumpkins are bitter and nasty.  Even the last "pie pumpkin" was pretty mediocre in flavor.  So when I found these pumpkins grown locally, I knew I had to try them.

What to do with them?

The orange one was still called a pie pumpkin but I decided to stuff it and make a savory main dish from it.

I used foods I like for stuffing, but I put them together rather haphazardly.  This means I wrote down what I used but didn't take a picture of all the ingredients before I used them.  Here is the list:

1 pound pork sausage (bulk)
1 apple, cored and cut into small pieces
1/4 large onion, sliced into thin pieces
1/2 bagel, cut into cubes and toasted
1/4 teaspoon powdered mace
1/2 cup red wine

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Any bread will do, I think.  I just happened to have a bagel handy.

The key to stuffing something (a bird, a pumpkin, whatever) is to have your stuffing completely cooked before the whole thing goes into the oven.  So brown the sausage and break it up into smallish pieces.

Partially cooked; still needs to be broken up more.

Saute the apple and onion together until tender.

I love apples and onions cooked together!

After the bread bits are toasted, break them up into smallish pieces, if they aren't already so.

I used my fingers to break them into small pieces.

Mix the sausage, apple and onion, bread cubes, and mace together in a big bowl.  Then sprinkle the wine over the top and mix it in.

Smells yummy!

Wash and dry the outside of the pumpkin.  Cut open the top -- make the opening wide -- and scoop out the seeds and strings.  Trim the strings off the inside of the top, too.

Using 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, sprinkle the inside surface of the pumpkin to spice it.

Sprinkle them separately or mix them together.  Tilt the pumpkin to get all the inside covered.

Stuff the pumpkin.  I had to push to get it all to fit, but it did fit.



Put the lid on the pumpkin and place the pumpkin in a deep pan, like a Dutch oven.  Add 1/2 cup water to the pan.

Put in oven and bake until the pumpkin is tender when you push a pick into the side.  I baked mine about 2 hours.  I checked it after one hour and added a cup of water to the pan.  The original 1/2 cup had evaporated.

The Verdict

After two hours, the pumpkin was tender but not falling apart.  I served it as a main dish and had grilled brussel sprouts as the side dish.

When I took off the lid, I could still smell the wine.  Yum!

It was easy to slice the pumpkin into wedges for serving.

The taste?  The stuffing was enjoyable:  The sausage was flavorful as a good pork sausage can be. The apples and onions added moistness and sweetness while also complementing the pork. The bread added bulk and held the wine while shifting the texture away from just meat.

The pumpkin itself was, fortunately, not bitter.  It had a mild pumpkin flavor that went well with the stuffing.  I am glad that I spiced the inside of the pumpkin before stuffing because I could taste the salt and pepper, and I liked what I tasted.

Overall a good meal.  We both liked it and are looking forward to eating the leftovers.  Success!