Cheese Stuffed Pumpkin Slices Food

CHEESE-STUFFED PUMPKIN SLICES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease with butter.
• Cut the top of the pumpkin off with a large knife and remove all the seeds and pulp. Cut pumpkin into 3- to 4-inch wide segments. Remove skin of pumpkin with a potato peeler or paring knife. Cut into the pumpkin segments with a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make cylinders. Cut cylinders into 1/4-inch slices.
• Place pumpkin slices on the prepared baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil; sprinkle with thyme leaves from 5 sprigs, sea salt, and pepper. Cover with another piece of foil.
• Roast in the preheated oven until softened, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Leave the oven on.
• Slice mozzarella cheese into 1/4-inch wide pieces and place in between 2 slices of pumpkin. Repeat with remaining pumpkin slices. Top each with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
• Return to the oven and continue to roast until cheese melts, about 10 minutes more. Place on a plate and garnish with more thyme.

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 PUMPKIN STEW

Steps:

• Prepare an ice-water bath. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add brussels sprouts, and cook until bright green and crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer to ice-water bath. Repeat with green beans and snap peas. Drain.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rub inside of pumpkin and cut side of its top with 3 tablespoons oil. Place pumpkin and top on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and roast until they are tender but still holding shape, about 1 hour.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken generously with salt and pepper. Working in batches, cook chicken until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove excess fat from skillet. Repeat with remaining chicken, adding 1 tablespoon oil to skillet with each batch. Place chicken on a baking sheet. Add stock to skillet, and bring to a boil, scraping bottom. Pour stock into a small bowl.
• Roast chicken until golden brown and cooked through, about 40 minutes. Reserve pan juices.
• Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add apples, and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden and softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in chestnuts, and remove from heat.
• Combine potatoes, leeks, carrots, turnips, parsnips, squash, and celery root in a large bowl. Toss with remaining 1/2 cup oil, and season with salt and pepper. Spread vegetables in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, and roast until golden and tender, about 40 minutes. Add brussels sprouts, green beans, snap peas, apple mixture, and the garlic, and toss. Roast until garlic is golden brown and vegetables are heated through, about 10 minutes.
• Combine chicken, vegetables, parsley, stock, and 2 tablespoons reserved pan juices in a large bowl. Place mixture in pumpkin, and roast until heated through, about 15 minutes. Slice pumpkin into wedges. Serve each pumpkin wedge with some stew.

STUFFED PUMPKIN (WITH BACON GRUYERE STUFFING)

Steps:

• Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper (see last step for stovetop instructions). Using a very sturdy knife, cut a cap out of the top of the pumpkin (like a Halloween jack-o'-lantern) by working your knife around the top in a circle at a 45 degree angle. Cut out a large enough cap to make it easy to work inside the pumpkin. Remove 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.
• In a large bowl, toss the bread, cheese, garlic, bacon and herbs together. Season with salt and pepper to taste and pack the mixture 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). In a small bowl, stir the cream and the nutmeg together, seasoning the mixture with salt and pepper, then pour it into the pumpkin (again, you might have too much or too little--the ingredients should not swim in cream but they should be nicely moistened).
• Put the cap in place and bake the pumpkin for 90 minutes. Remove the cap and return to the oven for another 20 to 30 minutes, 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. Remove the pumpkin very carefully (it will be heavy, hot and wobbly) and place it on the table or transfer it to a platter. To serve, either spoon out portions of the filling and pumpkin meat, or dig into the pumpkin meat with a large spoon and mix it into the filling before spooning out portions.
• You may also cook the pumpkin in a large Dutch oven and bring it directly to the table for serving.

CHEESE-STUFFED SQUASH BLOSSOMS WITH SHAVED BABY SQUASH AND TOASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

Steps:

• Stuff squash blossoms:
• Preheat oven to 250°F.
• Toss tomatoes with oil and arrange, cut sides up, in 1 layer in a shallow (1-inch-deep) baking pan. Bake in middle of oven until slightly shriveled but not completely dried or browned, about 1 1/4 hours. Transfer pan to a rack to cool.
• Stir together goat cheese, cream, pumpkin seeds, basil, salt, and pepper in a bowl and fold in half of oven-dried tomatoes.
• Spoon 1 rounded tablespoon of this filling into each blossom and twist ends of petals gently to close. Chill, covered, until ready to fry.
• Prepare vinaigrette and shaved squash:
• Purée vinegar, shallot, oil, pepper, and salt in a blender until smooth and emulsified.
• Slice squash paper-thin (lengthwise) using slicer, then overlap squash slices decoratively on 4 plates to cover surface.
• Make tempura batter and fry blossoms:
• Heat 2 inches of oil in a 3-quart saucepan to 350°F on thermometer.
• Set a bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water, then whisk together flour and salt in smaller bowl. Then whisk in sparkling water until combined well.
• Working in batches of 3, coat blossoms in batter, lifting each out by its stem and letting excess drip off, then fry, turning, until batter is crisp (it will not brown), 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Transfer blossoms as fried with a slotted spoon to paper towels, drain, then season with salt.
• Assemble plates:
• Drizzle vinaigrette over squash slices, then arrange 3 fried blossoms in middle of each plate. Sprinkle remaining oven-dried tomatoes, pumpkin seeds, and basil around blossoms and season with salt and pepper.

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.

PUMPKIN-STUFFED SHELLS IN PARMESAN CHEESE SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, waxed paper, or aluminum foil. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add shells and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 9 minutes. Drain and set shells aside on the prepared baking sheet.
• Whip ricotta cheese, pumpkin, cream cheese, shredded Parmesan cheese, sugar, egg, salt, and pepper together in a large bowl using a hand or stand mixer until creamy. Stuff each shell with filling and replace on the baking sheet.
• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in flour until golden and thick to make a roux. Add milk slowly, whisking constantly, followed by half-and-half and grated Parmesan cheese. Whisk until sauce thickens, 3 to 4 minutes. Season cheese sauce with salt and pepper.
• Spread just enough cheese sauce into the bottom of the prepared baking dish to cover. Add stuffed shells and pour remaining sauce over.
• Bake in the preheated oven until browned, 15 to 20 minutes.