{"id":10993,"date":"2011-11-08T14:33:59","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T21:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgiap.webfactional.com\/?p=10993"},"modified":"2019-02-21T19:12:47","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T02:12:47","slug":"stuffed-pumpkin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgiapellegrini.com\/stuffed-pumpkin\/","title":{"rendered":"Stuffed Pumpkin"},"content":{"rendered":"
This is day 2 of my “Thanksgiving Revisited” series… a tad late but my airplane to New York didn’t have wifi, gasp<\/em>, the outrage!<\/p>\n I have a pumpkin fetish, I bought so many this year just to look at. And I like a good pumpkin dessert as much as the next girl. But <\/em>I think we need more savory pumpkin dishes on the Thanksgiving dinner table. To show the pumpkin’s full glory and potential.<\/p>\n Enter… the stuffed pumpkin.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n You will need: a pumpkin that is 3 pounds, (or if you want to be whimsical about it you can try to get small ones and serve them individually), leek, gruyere cheese (the stuff of the Gods), stale bread, nutmeg, pancetta, thyme, a head of garlic, and smoked paprika. You’ll also need a mystery ingredient which I failed to photograph here…<\/p>\n Cream! Heavy cream! The best ingredient there ever was.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Start by cutting the root and tip ends off of the garlic…<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Drizzle it with olive oil and wrap it in tin foil. If the cloves fall apart like mine did, that’s A-OK. Roast them in the oven for 1 hour while you get the rest of the ingredients together.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Carve the top off of the pumpkin.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n It will be full of pretty seeds. If you’re feeling patient you could save some of them and toast them.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Or you can cut them off of the lid and cast them away.<\/p>\n <\/a>You’ll want to scoop all of the seeds out of the inside of the pumpkin too.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Then season it with a good dose of sea salt on the inside.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n And a few good turns of pepper. Then set it aside and get the stuffing ready.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Cut the pancetta up into a small dice.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Like so. Isn’t pancetta pretty? I prefer it to bacon. True story.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Next you’ll prepare and clean the leek. This may be the first thing they taught us in culinary school. Ah the memories…<\/p>\n Basically you cut off the root, then make diagonal slices toward the green portion all around.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n So there is a bit of a point at one end. This is because there is a lot of white on the inside of the base where the green starts. I realize that made no sense but the idea is “food economy,” getting as much of the white as possible while eliminating the green.<\/p>\n Save the green for stock! It is amazing.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n There is a lot of dirt that is buried where the green and white meet. So slice your leek in half and run the two halves under water to get out all of the grit from between the layers.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Then slice it thinly.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Next, render some pancetta in a skillet and let the fat sizzle and the pancetta crisp.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Add the leeks, season them with some salt and pepper and let them wilt.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n They’ll become soft and translucent. Try to resist eating the whole thing with a spoon right then and there. It’s hard, I know.<\/p>\n Once you have it where you want it, remove it from the heat and let it cool.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n While that is going on, cut some stale bread… it can be semi-stale, it’s going to soak up some liquid.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n You’ll want 1\/4-inch to 1\/2-inch pieces.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Then grate the heavenly gruyere.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n In a bowl, combine the bread, gruyere, and picked thyme…<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n the smoked paprika and..<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n the nutmeg!<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Add the pancetta and leek mixture to the bowl… and give it a a nice stir.<\/p>\n Oh! And don’t forget the best ingredient of all…<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n Scoop the stuffing into the pumpkin and fill it up.<\/p>\n <\/a>Then pour on some cream for moisture.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Put the lid on top and bake this in the oven for about 90 minutes.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n It will become very tender and easily pierced with a knife. That’s when it’s ready.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n This is festive to show to your guests at the dinner table, and bonus points if you can find very small pumpkins to serve these as individual servings.<\/p>\n
\nThe roasted garlic! Which you can squeeze out of their magical skins. My favorite pastime.<\/p>\n