Baked Mini Pumpkin Stuffed with Garlicky Kale, Swiss and Gruyere Cheese. Served with it’s own Crunchy Pumpkin Seeds Roasted in Chili Powder & Smoked Paprika

Nothing like the bright orange pumpkins that come in season with the change of the leaves to signal fall is here. There is so much you can do with pumpkins. I actually buy quite a few of these mini pumpkins as while the large pumpkins are generally still available, the smaller ones have a very short season. I keep them in the refrigerator, because they are gone by the beginning of Thanksgiving and it’s too late to buy and serve them. The mini pumpkins can be used to serve dips like this one, or soup in or just a traditional pie. It is easy and looks impressive, although, there is little prep involved. You do need to allow time to cook it for over an hour so that the walls of the pumpkin are soft and can be scraped down inside of the pumpkin giving your dip that warm, pumpkin flavor.

Prep Time Pumpkin: 15 minutes

Cooking Time Pumpkin: 1 ¼ hour to 1 ½ hour

Prep Time Roasted Seeds: 5 minutes

Prep Time drying seeds: 30 minutes

Cooking Seeds: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:

Baked Pumpkin:

1 1 ½-2 lb pumpkin

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbs olive oil

2 slices of thin bread, toasted

2 cups fresh baby kale

1 Tbs butter

4-6 oz grated Swiss cheese

4-6 oz grated Gruyere cheese

¾-1 cup half and half (depending on the size of your pumpkin)

pinch nutmeg

3/4 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds:

Seeds from the mini pumpkin, rinsed of all pumpkin strings

2 tsp olive oil

Chili Powder

Smoked Paprika

Salt

Pepper

For serving:

Crackers

Toast

Roasted Seeds

Directions:

Mark a circle on the top of your pumpkin with a pen or a marker. Cut through the skin and flesh. Remove the top. Reserve the top of the pumpkin to top the pumpkin to cook it. Clean out the inside of the your pumpkin and scrape the pumpkin threads off of the top. Place the seeds in a strainer and rub them under water to remove the strings from the pumpkin. Set aside on parchment paper to dry for 30 minutes. Mix the olive oil with ¼ tsp of your salt and half of your minced garlic. Rub the inside of the pumpkin with the mixture.

Sauté your baby kale with the butter and the the remaining minced garlic cloves. Break the toast into small pieces. In a small bowl, toss the toast with the cheeses and the sautéed kale. The amount of cheese you use depends on the size of your small pumpkin. Place the mixture inside of the pumpkin. You may use the same small bowl for the next step. Pour the ¾ cup half and half into the bowl, mix in the salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Pour the mixture into the pumpkin on top of the cheese, bread mixture, stir. If there is room in your pumpkin, pour over the remaining ¼ cup of the half and half. Top the pumpkin with its top. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or foil. Bake a total of 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes at 350. However, after 45 minutes, remove from the oven, stir, using your spoon to scrape off some of the pumpkin from the sides and mix it in the rest of the mixture. Be careful not to scrape too deeply into the wall of the pumpkin, you can scrape off more at the end. You do not want the walls of your pumpkin to lose their integrity and your pumpkin to fall apart while it continues to cook.

After 1 hour 15 minutes, check too see if the walls of pumpkin can be scraped down a little more. If so, it is done, if not, it needs another 15 minutes.

Place on serving platter, remove top and set alongside. Serve with crackers, toast points and the roasted seeds.

For the seeds:

Place the clean seeds in a bowl. (The seeds need to have dried at least 30 minutes on parchment). Toss the seeds with the olive oil, sprinkle on the chili powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 425. Watch that they do not burn. Serve alongside the pumpkin in a small bowl.