Savory Stuffed Pumpkin with Rice, Kale, and Cheese
Halloween is obviously over, but we are NOT done with pumpkins! Clearly, we still have pies ahead of us at Thanksgiving and I firmly believe that we should continue to honor the hearty squash by utilizing it to its fullest potential between now and the end of the season. Combining savory pumpkin with kale, rice, cheese and baking it whole makes a delicious – and dramatic-to-serve-to-guests – fall dish.
As we previously discussed, making Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good is an annual event in my house. Dorie Greenspan’s fantastic recipe is very much a include-what-you-like sort of recipe, so I thought I’d post about our go-to method – filled with risotto-like creamy rice, tender kale, onion, and cheese, it’s a delicious and filling way to round out any meal (or, in my case, serve as a vegetarian main dish).
One important note about this recipe: it takes a long time to cook. Honestly, I wouldn’t count it as a weeknight meal (at least not at my house, where I’m often not home until 630-7pm). We love it instead for a cozy Sunday night dinner, where a two-hour baking time doesn’t mean starting dinner at 9pm. This recipe is also extremely versatile, as you’ll see in Dorie’s original recipe, she suggests adding bread chunks, you can put in meat and nuts (which I imagine the salty/hearty thing is quite delicious) and also play with spices (she suggests nutmeg). Because we grow kale, we always have plenty in the garden and that’s an easy veggie for us to bulk it up with (and the kale/pumpkin combo is divine, too!)
One other key point: be sure to buy a sugar pie pumpkin, you definitely don’t want a regular Halloween carving pumpkin. I hear those are not delicious!
Enjoy, and happy fall!
[tasty-recipe id=”8762″]
November 5, 2017
This entry was posted in healthy, holidays, main dish, side dish, vegetarian and tagged holiday, kale, pumpkin, squash, vegetarian.
