Wing-it pumpkin fondue

Several years ago a friend brought a delicious baked-in-a-pumpkin fondue to Thanksgiving. When I tried to make the recipe myself, I found that it was fairly complicated, very rich, and required multiple kinds of expensive cheeses. I didn’t mind making it once in a while, but it wasn’t something I could throw together for a mid-week meal or potluck.

So I started winging a similar recipe based on ingredients I almost always have on hand (even the pie pumpkins, because we grow them). Now I always get asked for my recipe, so this is it, in a nutshell:

Ingredients (in order of appearance):

• Pie pumpkin (get one on the larger end)
• Olive oil
• Garlic, 1 or 2 cloves (optional really, if your stuffing mix is yummy enough)
• Bag of dry stuffing mix (I use the Arrowhead stuff you get at PCC)
• Cheese, grated (I use white sharp cheddar, but you could use emmental and gruyere like the original recipe)
• Beans (optional and only if using as main dish – I throw in kidney beans when I want to serve this to the kids for dinner)
• Milk, 1 or 2 cups (whatever % you have on hand)
• Salt and pepper (optional really, if your stuffing mix is salty enough)
• Cranberry sauce or pomegranate seeds (optional – I usually serve the fondue with something bright and tangy)
• Crackers (only if using as appetizer)

Steps:

1. Cut off top of pumpkin (save top!) and scoop out the insides. (I save seeds for roasting.)
2. Press  garlic and rub it along the inside of the pumpkin with a little olive oil.
3. Layer inside of pumpkin with cheese, beans (if using), and dry stuffing. Fill up the pumpkin. Really smoosh in as many layers as you can. End with cheese layer.
4. Whisk salt and pepper into milk to taste.
5. Pour the milk mixture into the pumpkin until you can see the liquid at the top of the pumpkin.
6. Place pumpkin in pie pan or oven-safe dish with top on.
7. Brush or rub olive oil on outside of pumpkin.
8. Bake in oven (around 400 degrees) for a couple of hours – until the pumpkin is soft enough that you could easily eat it (stick fork in from the outside to test).
9. Remove from oven, eat warm. If using as an entree, scoop it onto plates, making sure to scoop up pumpkin in addition to the cheesy mixture. If using as an appetizer, scatter crackers and a blob of cranberry sauce around the base.

So the basic idea is: fill up a pumpkin with yummy stuff, bake it all together, eat it. Always a crowd pleaser because of the presentation and taste!