Fairly recently (especially for me) trolling around I came across a pumpkin dish.  This pumpkin was stuffed with all kinds of wondrous foods and I was excited to try it.  I think it helped that I just happened to have a really beautiful 3.3 pound pie pumpkin sitting on my counter.  Often times it would have leapt onto my cutting board table where 80% of my cooking gets prepped and then gone back to the basket on the counter in delay mode.  But, as luck and Halloween would have it, I actually stuffed this little guy and WOW oh WOW am I ever glad I did.

If you are looking for beautiful and DRAMATIC and even vegetarian: this is it.  This sure belongs on any Thanksgiving table!

The original recipe called for a small amount of cheddar cheese on the bottom of the pumpkin, I really don’t think it’s needed or missed and then it’s so easily vegan!!  I used a little extra hominy because I just think it’s great.  Next time I may try some black beans and use only one can of the hominy for even more color.

Hominy, Tomatillo Stuffed Pumpkin

olive oil to sauté

1 medium onion diced

1 red bell pepper diced

4 cloves garlic minced

1 teaspoon chili powder (I used chipotle)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

1/2 lb. tomatillos, husked, washed and quartered (1 1/2 cups)

3 cups hominy, rinsed and drained (that’s more than a 14 oz can)

salt & pepper to taste

1  3-4 pound pumpkin

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in pot over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper and garlic. Sauté 7 minutes or until softened. Stir in chili powder, cumin, and oregano, and cook 3 minutes more, or until spices darken.

2. Add tomatillos, hominy,  and salt. Cover and reduce heat to low, leave partially covered, until tomatillos are just softened. The original recipe called for 1/2 cup water which I thought would be way too much and left it out.  You might want a little, I didn’t.

3. Meanwhile, cut the top of the pumpkin around the stem to make a lid. Scoop out pumpkin seeds and strings. Rub inside of pumpkin with remaining oil and sprinkle generously with salt. Sprinkle cheese on the bottom of pumpkin (I went very light on this and think things would be fine without).

4. Fill pumpkin with stew, then top with pumpkin lid. Place on parchment covered baking sheet and bake 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until pumpkin flesh is fork-tender. I left it 2 hours and then on 140° to keep warm for about 30 minutes until we were ready to eat.  Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes. Scoop stew including pumpkin into bowls and serve hot, topped with Poblano-Cucumber Salsa.

Poblano-Cucumber Salsa

1 or 2 roasted poblano chile

1/2 cucumber peeled, seeded and cut into dice

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

2 TBS lime juice

1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp)

1 jalepeno chile, stemmed, seeded and minced

1/2 tsp salt

1 or 2 ripe avocados, diced

2 pears or apples combo diced

Preheat oven to broil. Roast poblano chile 15 to 20 minutes, or until skin is blackened, turning occasionally. Cool until easy to handle. Remove charred skin, discard seeds and stem, and cut into small dice. Combine with the rest of the ingredients, leaving the avocado for last. Gently fold in avocado, pears and/or apples and season with salt and pepper.

I highly recommend the salsa.  I used 2 roasted poblano chilies and can’t say I really tasted them perhaps they simply added depth and background.  This is really excellent salsa.

As usual, I got carried away and tossed on some pomegranate seeds - just do it it’s gorgeous visual and good taste and texture.  Do not however throw on the pumpkin seeds as I did.  I love snacking on them, their texture in this stew was rude.  My mistake.

Thank You Toni!!

I think Kalyn might just find this a good dish for her Thanksgiving Blog-Her article here.

UPDATE:

What is Hominy Joanna asks!  Something I grew up with from the time my family lived in the South USA.  Isn’t it fun to think a food that is just basic to you is unknown somewhere else. 

Hominy is very basically corn soaked in lye.  Read about it here on Wikipedia. 

Hominy comes in yellow and white, white probably being the most common.  I suppose it can come in any color corn grows in or heaven forbid could be artificially colored UCK.

The above should be totally white but I’ve mixed together part of cans of black beans and white hominy which I’m tossing into salads at the moment.  Hope that clears it up Joanna!

As you can see from comments below, Mansi from FunAndFoodCafe has requested me to send her a link for her Vegetarian Thanksgiving Event.  I’m very happy to do so.