Spinach Stuffed Pumpkins Recipes

STUFFED PUMPKIN DINNER

Steps:

• Wash pumpkin; cut a 6-in. circle around top stem. Remove top and set aside; discard seeds and loose fibers from inside. Place pumpkin in a large Dutch oven. Fill with boiling water to a depth of 6 in.; add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the pumpkin is almost tender but holds its shape. Carefully remove and drain well; pat dry. , In a large skillet, cook the beef, onion and green pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink and vegetables are tender; drain well. Cool slightly; place in a large bowl. Add rice, tomato sauce, ham, eggs, garlic, oregano, pepper, vinegar and remaining salt. , Place pumpkin in a shallow sturdy baking pan. Firmly pack beef mixture into pumpkin; replace top. Leaving pan uncovered, bake at 350° for 1 hour. Let stand for 10 minutes. Remove the top; if desired, use paper towel to remove excess moisture from top of meat. Slice pumpkin into wedges.

STUFFED BABY PUMPKINS

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash the pumpkins. With a small, sharp knife, remove the tops as if for a jack-o'-lantern. Scoop out the seeds and stringy insides with a spoon, leaving the flesh intact. Rinse, then rub with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper.
• Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat, then add the scallions and cook for a few minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute or so, until fragrant. Add the kale and cook until it just wilts, about 3 or 4 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the lemon juice and transfer to a bowl. Add the bread crumbs, cheese, pine nuts, nutmeg, red pepper flakes, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black peppers. Mix well, then stir in the cream.
• Divide the filling into the pumpkins and replace the tops. Rub a baking dish with olive oil and arrange the filled pumpkins in the dish.
• Bake for 1 hour, watching to make sure the tops don't brown too much. Test the pumpkins by piercing with a fork. If the skin doesn't pierce easily, remove the tops and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. Replace the tops and serve hot.

SPINACH-STUFFED PUMPKINS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cut off tops and remove seeds from pumpkins. Coat the insides with butter, and season with salt and pepper. Replace lids. Place in a shallow baking dish with a small amount of water to prevent bottoms from scorching during cooking.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until insides have darkened yet outsides remain firm. Meanwhile, small saucepan, stir softened cream cheese into spinach until melted and well-blended.
• Fill pumpkins with spinach mixture, and top each with a slice of cheese. Return to the oven for 3 minutes to melt cheese if serving immediately. Pumpkins may be covered and refrigerated at this point until ready to serve. May be reheated in the microwave for 2 minutes.

PUMPKIN STUFFED WITH EVERYTHING GOOD

Steps:

• As written:.
• 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. However, since I love the way the unencumbered pumpkin looks in the center of the table, I've always taken my chances with the baked-on-a-sheet method, and so far, I've been lucky.
• 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.
• Serving:.
• You 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.
• Storing:.
• It'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.
• Greenspan's Stuffing Ideas:.
• There are many ways to vary this arts-and-crafts project. Instead of bread, I've filled the pumpkin with cooked rice - when it's baked, it's almost risotto-like. And, with either bread or rice, on different occasions I've added cooked spinach, kale, chard, or peas (the peas came straight from the freezer). I've made it without bacon, and I've also made and loved, loved, loved it with cooked sausage meat; cubes of ham are another good idea. Nuts are a great addition, as are chunks of apple or pear or pieces of chestnut.