I watched this episode of Parts Unknown when Anthony Bourdain goes to Daniel Boulud’s home in France where they bake this giant pumpkin in a brick oven. The pumpkin was stuffed with homemade bread, gruyere cheese, mushrooms, grated nutmeg and fresh cream from the cows on their farm. I have literally been dreaming about this pumpkin ever since and anxiously awaiting fall until I could make it!

This is such a fun and easy recipe! (Besides carving the damn pumpkin)

I swear, I love Halloween and I am always so excited to carve a pumpkin, but when I went to take out the seeds and strings from even these small sugar pumpkins it proved that it’s a little bit of a pain in the ass! Just make sure you cut a big enough hole for the top because my hand barely squeezed in there to pull everything out haha. I had battle wounds after carving these suckers! But besides that, it’s smooth sailing I promise. 🙂

I stuffed these little guys with the most insanely delicious mixture eva. Browned sweet Italian sausage, shallot, garlic, fresh thyme, cubes of sourdough baguette, kale, and lots of shredded gruyere cheese. DONEEE. I would gnaw my way through the pumpkin itself if I had to to get to that mixture! Happy feasting Friends!

Savory Stuffed Pumpkins

Ingredients

– 3-4 small baking pumpkins, or 1 large pumpkin (5-10 pounds)
– 1 French baguette, cubed. It’s better if it’s a little stale, or bake the cubes for a few minutes
– a lot of grated gruyere cheese. I grated about 1.5 cups
– 1 pound of Italian sausage
– 3 large shallots, thinly sliced
– 2 to 3 large cloves garlic, minced
– chopped fresh thyme – roughly 1 tablespoon
– 1/4 cup dry white wine
– 2 to 3 heaping cups of kale
– 1 cup half-and-half (adjust according to your preference)

what to do

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Using a heavy-duty knife inserted at a 45-degree angle, cut out a “lid” from the top of the pumpkin. Remove any seeds and cut away any loose strings using kitchen shears. Be prepared for gooey hands and to find random strings of pumpkin in your kitchen for years to come lol.

2. Combine the bread cubes and Gruyère in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

3. Heat a little oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking it into pieces with a wooden spoon, until it is golden-brown and cooked through, about 5-8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to the bowl with the bread and cheese.

4. Reduce the heat to medium and add the shallots, cooking until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and fresh thyme and cook for 30 seconds. Increase heat to high and add the wine, using the wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine until it is almost evaporated. Add the kale and a generous pinch of salt; stir until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Add everything to the bread mixture.

5. Transfer the stuffing to the pumpkin, filling it all the way to the top. I then poured a little half and half in each pumpkin. This part is totally your preference. If you want to add the cream to the mixture before filling the pumpkins you can, but I like the idea of just topping off the mixture with a little cream when it’s already in the pumpkin. Put the “lid” of the pumpkin back on and put in the oven.

6. Bake until the filling is bubbling and hot, and the meat of the pumpkin can be pierced with a knife. This can be anywhere from 1 to 2 (or more) hours, depending on the size of your pumpkin.

7. Carefully transfer the pumpkin(s) to a serving platter. Slice the pumpkin into large wedges and serve with a big scoop of stuffing!