Toad Hall Gardens

Fine, organic produce from Bloomington, Indiana

Stuffed Pumpkin

This delicious baked pumpkin is easy to prepare and makes an impressive holiday dish. Use one of our Long Island Cheese Pumpkins or a small pie pumpkin for best results.

Serves: 8 • Prep Time: 30 min • Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

  • 1 Pie pumpkin
  • 1/2 loaf Crusty bread, cubed
  • 6 ounces Gruyère cheese, cubed smallishly
  • 5 Bacon slices, fried till crispy and crumbled
  • 4 Garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon Thyme
  • 1/3 cup Heavy cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg, freshly grated
  • Salt, to taste
  • Freshly ground 4 peppercorn blend, to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Pretend like you’re going to make a Jack-o-Lantern, and cut a lid from the top of the pumpkin at a 45 degree angle. Scoop out the innards (save the seeds to bake for a snack). Place the clean pumpkin in a round baking dish.
  3. Combine the crusty bread, cheese, garlic, bacon and thyme in the pumpkin. The quantities really depend on how big your pumpkin is; it should be at least 3/4 of the way full.
  4. Mix the heavy cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a separate bowl. Pour the cream mixture over the contents of the pumpkin. Pop the cap back on that baby and bake it for 1-2 hours (depends on the size of your pumpkin). You’ll know it’s done when you can easily pierce it with a fork. If it’s looking a bit soggy in there, take the cap off of the pumpkin for the last 15 minutes of baking .
  5. Slice and serve like a pie. Impressive.