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Very soon, little ghosts and ghouls will be descending upon us. Mini witches and warlocks will be flitting from house to house in search of candy (and perhaps things more sinister).

It is All Hallows Eve and the winds are blowing, ready for an eerie evening of spooky things.

I am preparing to chain myself to the couch in a vain attempt to avoid the Halloween candy. It’s for the children, as I keep reminding myself (not so successfully thus far). I’ll be watching scary movies all the while hoping that the candy goes quickly, for the sake of my hips and dental bill.

Before I apply the chains, however, I wanted to share this lovely dish with you. To me, October is the month of pumpkin. This month, Mama Cream Puff tried this incredible dish for the first time. It is just the sort of thing to keep the October chills and other spooky things outside, all the while keeping the comfort and cosy inside.

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It’s a pumpkin stuffed with onions, mushrooms, goat cheese and the last of our garden’s cherry tomatoes.

Have a truly terrifying Halloween!

Ciao!

Stuffed Pumpkin
Adapted from Pumpkin, Butternut & Squash by Elsa Petersen-Schepelern.

Note: The original recipe is for stuffed small pumpkins so we adapted the recipe based on the size of our pumpkin. We didn’t really measure anything, we just added what we liked.

1 small to medium-sized pumpkin (choose a fleshy pumpkin), with the top removed and the seeds scooped out.
1 large red onion, diced
1 cup chopped mushrooms (any mushroom you like)
goat cheese (we used a whole log of goat cheese), crumbled
2 to 3 cups of cherry tomatoes
fresh herbs (basil and parslety, etc), chopped
salt and pepper
olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large pan, heat some olive oil and add the onion and mushrooms. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until they have some colour.

Remove the heat and combine with the crumbled goat cheese, the tomatoes and the herbs. Season according to your tastes.

Stuff this mixture into the cavity of the pumpkin. Place the lid on the pumpkin and brush the exterior with olive oil.

Place the pumpkin on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes and test the pumpkin to see if it’s tender. (Do this by piercing the skin with a fork.) If it’s tender, the pumpkin is cooked. If not, continue cooking until done.

Serve the pumpkin by scooping out the filling and cooked flesh.

Enjoy!

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