Elegant Stuffed Pumpkin Recipe

Brown rice, wheat bread, onion, apples, and chestnuts or cashews make up the filling for vegetarian stuffed pumpkin. If you have extra stuffing, it may be baked separately.

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 (5 pounds) pumpkin
• 2 to 3 cups brown rice, cooked
• 2 cups crumbled dry whole wheat bread (or part corn bread or other bread)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 to 1 cup chopped celery and leaves
• 2 apples (tart and unpeeled), chopped
• 1 cup roasted chestnuts or a handful of cashew nuts, cut in half
• Herbs: Sage, savory, marjoram, oregano, and paprika to taste
• 1 to 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup butter, melted, or safflower oil
• Soy sauce or salt to taste

Preparation:

Cut off top of pumpkin to make a lid. Remove the seeds and scrape out any stringy pulp.

Combine brown rice, bread, onion, celery, apples, chestnuts or cashews, and herbs in a large mixing bowl and mix well with hands.

Add stock and butter, and mix well, adding soy sauce and salt if desired. Stuffing should be moist but not wet. Pack loosely into pumpkin, replace lid, and bake on oiled cookie sheet for 1-1/2 hours or more at 325 degrees F.

It is done when a fork pushes easily through the pumpkin. Transfer to a casserole dish and serve at the table, scooping out some of the tender pumpkin flesh with each serving of stuffing. If the pumpkin is organically grown, you may eat the skin too.

(If you have too much stuffing for your pumpkin, place extra in an oiled casserole, cover, and bake for 1 hour.)

Yield: 5 servings

Recipe Source: The Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook by Lucy Moll (John Wiley & Sons)
Reprinted with permission.