Pumpkin, the quintessential fall flavor, is everywhere: coffee, baked goods, cereal, body butter (no kidding.)
Many of these items are contrived, “pumpkin spice” products.
For a real pumpkin — emphasis on the word “real” — treat, follow Tucsonan Diane Luber’s lead and make a flavorful, perfect-to-serve-to-company meal in a pumpkin.
Luber based her seasonal meal on the Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good recipe from epicurious.com and adapted it to personal preferences.
In a vegetarian version, Luber used Gruyère cheese, mushrooms and nuts, and she mixed chicken and jalapeños in a meat-and-spice-lovers version. She used rice rather than bread cubes.
Luber served the pumpkins in the baking dish, creating a seasonal centerpiece with the main course. When you scoop into the pumpkin to fill your plate, be sure to also scoop some of the squash meat off the sides.
Luber says the dish is not difficult or overly time-consuming. She made the rice a day before she assembled and baked the pumpkins.
Finding pumpkins after Halloween was a bit challenging, and she ended up with pie pumpkins from AJ’s Fine Foods.
A Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good seems like an appropriate accompaniment to turkey for Thanksgiving.
