Stuffed Baked Pumpkin

This year I got a great harvest of 8 decent sized butternut pumpkins (also known as butternut squash), so have been on the hunt for some different recipes to make. This stuffed baked pumpkin is really tasty and you can adjust the quantities to suit. You could also just make the filling and let it cook in a covered pan.

1 pumpkin (about 1kg)
2 cloves garlic, peeled
olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 small handful black olives, stoned and chopped (I substituted green olives)
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves finely chopped
1 dried chilli (or chilli powder to taste)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
50 g basmati rice
75 g dried cranberries (I substituted currants)
50 g shelled pistachio nuts (I substituted sunflower seeds)
zest of an orange or tangerine
200 ml vegetable stock

Cut the lid off the pumpkin and reserve it (this is a bit trickier with a butternut pumpkin). Scoop out the seeds with a spoon.

Make the hollow where the seeds were a little bigger by scooping out some more pumpkin flesh (or use flesh from the ‘neck’ of the butternut pumpkin). Finely chop this pumpkin flesh and one of the garlic cloves.

Heat a frying pan over a medium heat. Pour in a splash of olive oil, then add the chopped pumpkin, chopped garlic, onion, olives, and half the rosemary. Cook gently for 10 minutes or so until the pumpkin has softened.

Place the whole garlic clove and the remaining rosemary in a pestle and mortar. Crumble in the dried chilli, add a good pinch of salt, pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon and bash until you have a paste. Add a little olive oil to loosen up the mixture and then rub the inside of the pumpkin with it.

Season the cooked pumpkin mixture and stir in the rice, cranberries, pistachios and tangerine zest with a pinch each of nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix thoroughly then add the vegetable stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes (no longer or the rice will end up overcooked later).

Tear off a sheet of tin foil that’s large enough to wrap the pumpkin in a double layer and lay on top of a baking tray. Place the pumpkin on top and spoon the rice mixture into it, then place its lid back on. Rub the skin with a little olive oil, wrap it up in the foil and bake in the oven at 220C for about an hour. The pumpkin is ready when you can easily push a knife into it.

The stuffed baked pumpkin makes a great feature for a dinner when brought to the table whole. Cut it into thick wedges, leaving the skin. Serve with seasonal greens.