I woke up this morning, after howling winds and snow that stranded more than 200 metro busses in the Seattle area last night, to a neighborhood that was utterly silent. It was freezing cold, and there was this view of the Olympics under a fresh cloak of white. No one is going anywhere today. Schools are canceled, it’s time to stay inside and stay warm.
I decided to do a trial run of the dish I’m planning to make for Thanksgiving, and it was so good I just had to share.
The dish is a stuffed pumpkin, and here I was combining two different recipes. I was inspired by Dorie Greenspan’s Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good, but needed a vegetarian recipe (Dorie’s uses bacon). I wanted something a little less creamy, so I turned to a panade recipe that comes from The Zuni Cookbook. Molly has a version of it here. There are greens and cheese and onions, but no cream.
Let me elaborate: caramelized onions, sauteed chard, melty gruyere cheese, and bread soaked in a rich stock. Sorry turkey lovers, but this sounds way better to me.
I didn’t follow a recipe, I just threw together some sauteed onions with garlic, ribbons of chard, grated cheese, and toasted bread cubes. I used a whole wheat pain au levain, as I like bread with some flavor. Anything crusty would work fine.
I stuffed the whole thing into the pumpkin whose seeds and inner stringy ickiness I had removed and baked it in a skillet for about an hour.
People, the smell coming out of my kitchen was intoxicating. I couldn’t concentrate. I could barely wait for the pumpkin to be done. This is by far the best thing that has come out of my kitchen lately.
Thanksgiving is an odd sort of a holiday if you’re vegetarian—as most of my family is. Many side dishes are vegetarian, or can easily be made so, but the meat-eaters get a huge, impressive centerpiece of turkey. There’s not much like that on the vegetarian side (I’m personally not a fan of the Tofurkey or other meat replacement dishes). Until now I hadn’t found a meatless centerpiece that could be carried out on a platter and make the vegetarians feel like they’re getting something special as well.
Until now.
If you have vegetarians coming for Thanksgiving this year—or just want to make a wonderfully delicious meal any night of the week—I’m suggesting this stuffed pumpkin recipe. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I had to restrain myself from eating the whole thing (it’s a very small pumpkin, really). I do eat some meat these days, but this is far better than any turkey I’ve ever tasted. Seriously. I had to share it with you.
Now, if one of you would come over and take the leftovers away so I don’t eat them all, that would be great.
PUMPKIN STUFFED WITH PANADE
This is
a very loose recipe, which you’ll have to adapt based on how large your pumpkin is. Err on the side of more—if you have extra stuffing you can bake it in a dish and it will be yummy.
For a small (1.5 pound) pumpkin:
One large onion, cut in half and sliced in 1/4 inch slices
Olive oil
Two large cloves garlic, cut in thin slivers
Two large slices of artisanal (crusty) bread, I prefer a flavorful levain/whole wheat, about 2.5 cups
Five leaves of chard,stems removed, cut into thin ribbons
Four ounces grated gruyere cheese (about 1 cup)
Salt and pepper
Chicken or vegetable stock, about 1 cup
Heat the oven to 350°
Film the bottom of a saute pan with olive oil and add the onions. Saute until soft and golden but still firm. Add the garlic and continue to stir on occasion. Once the garlic softens, remove from the heat and place the onions/garlic in a mixing bowl. Wipe the pan clean (make sure there are no bits sticking to the pan), add a little more olive oil, and sauce the chard with a pinch of salt. Once the greens are wilted, remove from heat and add to the mixing bowl.
Cut the bread into small cubes (1/2 inch) and toast on a baking sheet. Add to the mixing bowl, along with the grated cheese. Mix and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a little bit more salt than you think necessary.
Cut a small circle around the stem of the pumpkin, remove the top, and clean out the pumpkin seeds and stringy innards. Sprinkle the interior with salt.
Stuff the bread/onion/cheese mixture into the middle of the pumpkin, packing it firmly. Warm the chicken or vegetable stock in a small sauce pan (I used a cube of stock dissolved in water, but I made it stronger than I would for soup—less water and more stock cube—so that it had more flavor). Slowly pour the stock into the center of the pumpkin, until you can see it pooling at the top of your stuffing. The stock may be absorbed by the bread, if so, add more stock. Replace the lid and put the pumpkin on a baking sheet, or a skillet, or in a Dutch oven. I put a bit of olive oil on the skillet, to make sure the pumpkin didn’t stick.
Bake until the stuffing is bubbling and the pumpkin has softened a bit. Take the top off and bake for another 10-15 minutes. My small pumpkin took a little over an hour.
Cut in wedges and serve warm.
- Food Network: Thanksgiving Bounty We’re Grateful For
- Caron of San Diego Foodstuff: Bounty to Be Grateful For in the Form of Community (And Pecan Pie)
- Paige at The Sister Project: A Thanksgiving Surprise
- Alana at Eating From the Ground Up: Of Turkeys and Apples
- Caroline at the Wright Recipes: Butternut Squash Biscuits
- Gilded Fork: On Gratitude
- Todd and Diane at White on Rice Couple: The Hungry Travelers Video
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that looks so comforting! happy t-day!
I've been wanting to make something just like this! This week is the week. Thanks for the recipe
Mmmmm… sounds (and looks) fabulous. For vegetarians this year I'm making sauteed mushrooms, leeks & thyme wrapped (and baked) in puff pastry. I did a trial run 2 weeks ago. It was lovely!
Mmmmm… sounds (and looks) fabulous. For vegetarians this year I'm making sauteed mushrooms, leeks & thyme wrapped (and baked) in puff pastry. I did a trial run 2 weeks ago. It was lovely!
Mmmmm… sounds (and looks) fabulous. For vegetarians this year I'm making sauteed mushrooms, leeks & thyme wrapped (and baked) in puff pastry. I did a trial run 2 weeks ago. It was lovely!
Mmmmm… sounds (and looks) fabulous. For vegetarians this year I'm making sauteed mushrooms, leeks & thyme wrapped (and baked) in puff pastry. I did a trial run 2 weeks ago. It was lovely!
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! Stuffed pumpkin has always been my favorite dish to serve to guests this time of year, but the recipe I had was with venison (I substituted beef), wild rice and sage. Yours sounds much better, and I like that it's meat-free…if I needed to serve meat I think a slow-cooker roast would go nicely on the side.
happy thanksgiving this looks so yum,..
I'm not vegetarian, and i love turkey, but I'd give it up for this.
Being scottish, I don't have thanksgiving, but i'm thinking this could be a rather lovely Sunday lunch!
Beautiful adaptation! Wow. I didn't know you got slammed…I shouldn't tell you it was 75 degrees here yesterday. It's too weird. It's supposed to snow this time of year.
I made almost exactly this for Canadian Thanksgiving – it was to DIE for! I found the recipe in Edible Vancouver magazine; it called for shallots in place of onions and omitted the chard (though next time I will definitely include the latter!), and I used cave-aged Gruyere and and whole wheat sourdough. WOW. Most of my family members are pathologically afraid of trying new things so only my "hippie-dippie" aunt tried some, but hey – more for me, right? I was swooning.
Thanks for sharing!
Wow… that looks absolutely wonderful! I cannot wait to try this gooey and delicious pumpkin dish. Thanks for sharing!!
Big WOW, Tea, that looks literally like the essence of Thanksgiving! I'm definitely going to make it. Meat eaters could add sausage to the mix, too, but I think it sounds absolutely perfect as is! Brilliant!
I've made both riffs on the panade and Greenspan's stuffed pumpkin…and man the combo of the two is genius.
I made the panade with some cooked curly endive (which I love to bits) and OH man was it delicious…I'm thinking that this will be a great follow up on Friday, when I'm turkeyed out, and I have those two acorn squash that need eating. Great idea!
I'm a eat-meat-sometimes omnivore but I just don't like turkey all that much. I tend to hit up all the side dishes on Thanksgiving. Bread, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, oh my! Since I happen to think pumpkin >> turkey, this recipe looks amazing to me. I'll need to try this soon!
This does look super amazing and I'm sure the smell wafting out of your kitchen was killer. I think it's time to recreate another thanksgiving here!
While I do eat meat, I don't like turkey (I eat the tiniest amount I can get away with one day a year to be polite.) This looks FABULOUS! I would so much rather eat this than turkey. Thanks for sharing!!
I was a bit bummed reading this, because our last pumpkin was just made into pie. Then while washing dishes, I happened to look outside and see a soccer ball dusted with snow that AHA! is not in fact a soccer ball but a sugar pie pumpkin. If freezing hasn't ruined it, I'm going to try this recipe after Thanksgiving. Thanks for the inspiration!
Julie W.
oh my goodness that looks incredible. hope you had a great thanksgiving!
What a devine looking dish. Although our Thanksgiving was a month ago, many people are still making things with pumpkin. I have to find an excuse to make this.
Love the view from your new place. I don't think I'd ever leave the window (even for a cup of tea) with a view like that. Hope you're settling nicely into your new home.
That looks soooo delicious! Comfort food at it's best!
Cheers,
Rosa
oh my, this looks amazing! i look forward to trying it out.:)
I LOVE that you posted this, I have been collecting stuffed pumpkin recipes for years but have never found one that covers all the bases. thanks a bunch, I'm going to try this for Christmas Eve dinner. xo!
Wow. This is a stunner. Pretty sure those good oven smells can't travel 2000+ miles, but my nose tells me otherwise…
A very happy Thanksgiving to you, Tara.
That looks scrumptious.
This was SO yummy! Thanks for sharing this version, Tea! Especially since my husband can't have cream. We all swooned over it at the table and had seconds.
Brilliant! I always lusted after the Swiss pumpkin recipe from Ruth Reichl (similar idea with a custard base), but figured that I couldn't make anything like that for the lactose-intolerant members of my household. I don't know why I didn't think of a panade — I'm totally going to make this.
The pumpkin looks gorgeous – it's so appealing to look at!
How lovely to be somewhere so cold and frosty (although the reality is probably different I guess).
It's a beautiful dish!
This looks really wonderful! I grew up vegetarian, and my parents and much of my family still are, though my siblings all eat meat now. The centerpiece of our Thanksgiving has always been stuffed squash, similar to what you describe here. These days it's stuffed squash AND turkey. I will have to try this recipe for them, I know my mom would love to try something new!
I made this for dinner last night, and it was a huge success, even for the non-vegetarian boys who were skeptical! Love your blog!
~L
I have never tried to stuff a pumpkin before. It looks so yummy, I have to try it!
That's a lovely recipe, looks delicious.
Just a reminder, since you said it was meant for vegetarians: true Gruyère cheese is NOT vegetarian, it is made with rennet from the ripped out and blended stomach of a calf. So replace with a cheese with microbial rennet.
It's completely unfair to find this recipe now when I can't get a pumpkin. I am super bummed out. This looks amazing.
Oh, Tea. I made a 9×13 adaptation of your recipe and LOVED it. My sometimes-vegan friend LOVED it. And I can tell you that it barely serves four because (have I mentioned it?) we LOVED it. Thanks for sharing and inspiring.
Your comment made me laugh! So glad you liked it. It’s a favorite around here as well.