How To Make a Vegetarian Stuffed Pumpkin Masterpiece

Autumn is a time of harvest and gathering to celebrate the cornucopia of America’s bounty. Despite this, vegetarian mains on the Thanksgiving table are usually a sad substitute for the classic roast turkey. This year choose to embrace the variety of textures, flavors, and colors found at the fall farmers market by preparing a vegetarian stuffed pumpkin, impressive enough to intrigue the entire table. Build the stuffing with hearty greens, earthy mushrooms, savory herbs, toothsome cornbread, and nutty Gruyère cheese, and then bake it inside a fairytale pumpkin for a stunning holiday centerpiece.

With all of the beautiful heirloom pumpkins available, it is a shame to leave them languishing after Halloween. Don’t bother buying a $200 gourd-shaped tureen to serve at your fall feast — instead pick up a Cinderella or fairytale pumpkin and fill it with a hearty bread stuffing. The sweet pumpkin flesh is filled with a cornbread stuffing that includes two types of mushrooms and strands of kale. It’s bound with just the right amount of egg and cream for the texture of a hearty bread pudding. Shredded Gruyère cheese sprinkled over top melts and turns golden after a few minutes under the broiler, while the orange hue of the pumpkin skin brightens and blisters under the heat. With all the classic flavors of Thanksgiving, this vegetarian main dish won’t feel like an afterthought, and even die-hard carnivores will be wrangling for a bite of this taste of fall.

• Pick up a Cinderella, fairytale, or other squat pumpkin from the grocery store or farm stand. You’ll want a pumpkin in the seven-to eight-pound range.
• Fill your shopping basket with autumn’s bounty: fresh and dried mushrooms, kale, thyme, sage, a hunk of Gruyère, and a bottle of dry white wine. The rest of the ingredients are likely in your pantry or fridge already.
• The pumpkin bakes for two hours, then gets sprinkled with cheese and broiled until browned and bubbly.

Cornbread is a quick bread made from cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, milk, and a fat (butter, vegetable oil, and bacon grease have all made it into my skillet at one time or another). The beauty of cornbread is its versatility: Sweeten it with a little sugar, add cayenne for a kick, or make it gluten-free by removing the flour. For this stuffing, begin with your favorite cornbread recipe (or buy it from the store!), and cut it into 1/2-inch pieces to make sure every forkful has a bite of the bread, mushrooms, and kale.

To stale the cornbread, simply make or buy cornbread a day in advance and leave it on the counter uncovered. Tender, crumbly cornbread soaks up the egg and cream custard and has a slightly sweet flavor that complements the fruity pumpkin. If you prefer to substitute a country-style or sourdough loaf, make an even exchange — if you go this route, you may have to add slightly more custard since those breads are chewier than cornbread.

• Soak dried mushrooms and then chop them. With just a quick soak, dried porcini mushrooms add a bit of luxury to the stuffing. Once pliable, chop into small pieces so that you’ll get a taste of their intense meatiness in every bite.
• Hollow out and season the pumpkin. Just as you would prepare a jack-o’-lantern, cut a wide lid from the top of the pumpkin and use a large, sturdy spoon to scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to ensure the pumpkin is as flavorful as the stuffing you add.
• Cook the vegetables for the stuffing. A large, hot skillet is essential for browning the mushrooms and wilting the kale. Sure, there will be brown bits left on the bottom of the pan, but with a splash of white wine, a scrape, and a stir, that flavor mixes back in.
• Mix the vegetables, cornbread, and custard. Toss the mushroom and kale mixture with cornbread, cheese, and herbs. Bind the stuffing with a custard made from eggs, heavy cream, mustard, and nutmeg.
• Stuff the pumpkin. Scoop the stuffing into the seasoned pumpkin before replacing the lid on top.
• Bake the stuffed pumpkin and broil a cheesy topping. You’ll have to bake about 2 hours until the stuffing is cooked and the pumpkin is tender. Finish by sprinkling shredded Gruyère over the top of the stuffing and broiling until browned and bubbly.

A stunning presentation is half the reason for preparing this recipe, so you’ll want to carefully transfer it to a platter. For the best-looking plate, slice into thick wedges so every serving has a hearty amount of mushrooms, kale, and cornbread, not to mention tender, sweet pumpkin. A more homestyle approach is to serve the stuffing by heaping spoonful while making sure to scrape some of the pumpkin with each scoop.

With the autumnal bounty available, there’s no reason why a vegetarian main has to be a pale imitation of roast turkey. Save the faux pumpkins for the fireplace mantle, because everyone will want a view of this edible stuffed pumpkin centerpiece.