Thanksgiving

Stuffed and Baked Pumpkin is for Dinner.

Stuffed and Baked Pumpkin takes 25 minutes to prepare.

Stuffed and Baked Pumpkin takes 120 minutes to cook.

Stuffed and Baked Pumpkin makes 6 servings.

The ingredients for Stuffed and Baked Pumpkin are:

1 pumpkin, about 3 pounds
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 pound stale bread, thinly 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 garlic cloves (to taste), split, germ removed, and coarsely chopped
4 strips bacon, cooked until crisp, drained, and chopped
About 1/4 cup snipped fresh chives or sliced scallions
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
About 1/3 cup heavy cream
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Here is how you make Stuffed and Baked Pumpkin:

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 softened shell isn't so easy.Using a very sturdy knife ? and caution ? cut a cap out of the top of the pumpkin (think Halloween jack-o'-lantern). It's easiest to work your knife around the top of the pumpkin at a 45-degree angle. You want to cut off enough of the top to make it easy for you to work inside the pumpkin. 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 bacon and cheese, but taste to be sure ? and pack the mix into the pumpkin. The pumpkin should be well filled ? you might have a little too much filling, or you might need to add to it. 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 moistened. (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, very carefully ? it's heavy, hot, and wobbly ? bring it to the table or transfer it to a platter that you'll bring to the table.ServingYou have choices: you can cut wedges of the pumpkin and filling; you can spoon out portions of the filling, making sure to get a generous amount of pumpkin into the spoonful; or you can dig into the pumpkin with a big spoon, pull the pumpkin meat into the filling, and then mix everything up. I'm a fan of the pull-and-mix option. Served in hearty portions followed by a salad, the pumpkin is a perfect cold-weather main course; served in generous spoonfuls or wedges, it's just right alongside the Thanksgiving turkey.StoringIt's really best to eat this as soon as it's ready. However, if you've got leftovers, you can scoop them out of the pumpkin, mix them up, cover, and chill them; reheat them the next day.*These directions are copied and pasted from the internet. For more about the recipe, check it out at NPR, where I found it: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130704456Serving Size: makes 6 3/4 cup servingsNumber of Servings: 6Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user KATE937.

The nutritional information for Stuffed and Baked Pumpkin is:

• Servings Per Recipe: 6
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 335.9

• Total Fat: 17.7 g
• Cholesterol: 50.3 mg
• Sodium: 713.6 mg
• Total Carbs: 26.4 g
• Dietary Fiber: 4.6 g
• Protein: 17.0 g

Stuffed and Baked Pumpkin is French cuisine.