Cucurbit Comestibles, Part 2

So I have all these pumpkins that I bought.  As usual, I overdid it.  They did make lovely pumpkin butter, but they weren’t really cut out for pies.  Their flavor was more nutty than sweet, so I decided to go for a savory dish.

Roasted Pumpkins are the most beautiful orange on the planet.

First I roasted them.  I cut them along their lines of latitude, instead of from stem to stern.  Think Tropic of Cancer.  I scooped out their seeds and stringy innards and threw those out for the chickens (happy chickens).  Then I popped their tops back on and roasted them for an hour at 350 degrees.  My oven has this great feature: cook time.  I set it for an hour and walk away.  After the hour is finished, the oven turns itself off.  It works great for roasting, but I wouldn’t recommend it for baking.

I perused the freezer and the garden to come up with some likely ingredients for stuffing a pumpkin and came up with this. 

Stuffed Pumpkins, Italian Style

• 2 c. chopped tomatoes
• 1 c. green peppers
• 1 ½ c. chopped onions 5 Italian sausages, about 1-1 ½ pounds turkey
• 1 ½ t. Italian seasoning
• 1 t. salt
• ½ t. coarse ground black pepper
• 5 small pumpkins, “Rockefeller” pumpkins have the taste of an Acorn Squash with a smoother consistency and a sturdy shell.
• Parmesan cheese

1. Open the pumpkins and scoop out the seeds.
2. Roast the pumpkins on a cookie sheet, tops on, in a 350-degree oven for 1 hour.
3. Into a large fry pan, remove the sausage from its casings, crumble, and cook over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink.
4. Add onions and green peppers and cook until soft.
5. Stir in the tomatoes and seasonings and remove from the heat.
6. Spoon the meat mixture into the pumpkins.
7. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Place the tops on the cookie sheet to reheat the pumpkin flesh.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Pumpkins can be served with tops on, to impress your guests.  My kids opted to butter their tops and spoon brown sugar into them for dessert.