I was so frustrated with working too much that I decided to cook, even though no one was here to help enjoy the results. But, the "Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good" is wonderful, and you might want to try it. I heard the recipe on NPR driving home from work Friday. Here's the recipe. Enjoy!!!
1 pumpkin - about 3 pounds
Salt and ground pepper
1/4 pound stale bread, thinkly sliced and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1/4 pound cheese, such as Gruyere, Emmenthal, cheddar or a combination, cut into 1/2 inch
chunks
2-4 strips bacon, cooked until crisp and chop
About 1/4 cup snipped fresh chives of sliced
scallions
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
About 1/3 cup heavy cream
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment, or find a Dutch oven with a diameter that's just a tiny bit larger than your pumpkin. If you bake the pumpkin in a casserole, it will keep its shape, but it might stick to the casserole, so you'll have to serve it from the pot - which is an appealingly homey way to serve it. If you bake it on a baking sheet, you can present it freestanding, but maneuvering a heavy stuffed pumpkin with a sotened shell isn't so easy.
Using a very sturdy knife - and cautioin - cut a cap out of the top of the pumpkin. It's easiest to work your knife around the top of the pumpkin at a 45-degree angle. Clear away the seeds and strings from the cap and from inside the pumpkin. Season the inside of the pumpkin generously with salt and pepper, and put it on the baking sheet or in the pot. Toss the bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, and herbs together in a bowl. Season with pepper - you probably have enough salt from the garlic, bacon, and herbs together in a bowl. Pack the mix into the pumpkin. The pumpkin should be well filled. Stir the cream with the nutmeg and some salt and pepper and pour it into the pumpkin. Again, you might have too much or too little - you don't want the ingredients to swim in cream, but you do want them nicely moitened. (But it's hard to go wrong here.)
Put the cap in place and bake the pumpkin for about 2 hours - check after 90 minutes - or until everything inside the pumpkin is bubbling and the flesh of the pumpkin is tender enough to be pierced easily with the tip of a knife. Because the pumpkin will have exuded liquid, I like to remove the cap during the last 20 minutes, or so, so that the liquid can bake away and the top of the stuffing can brown a little.
When the pumpkin is ready, carefully, bring it to the table or transfer it to a platter that you can take to the table.
I followed the above directions, and the results were great. I do have leftovers for tomorrow. I hope you enjoy. Cleaning the pumpkin was the hard part!
