Stuffed Pumpkin, Too

Last night for Halloween, the spouse requested stuffed pumpkin. Since I made one recently, I decided I wanted to go in a completely different direction this time. The spouse had purchased a couple of nice little one pound pumpkins, the kind that make great one person meals. She bought two different varieties; one all white, one white with orange stripes. Since I had some chicken breast that needed cooking, I decided to use that. As well I had a lot of apples, and I always have dried bread cubes. I decided a chicken, apple, and cheddar stuffing sounded good.

I sauteed the chicken with some red onion, then mixed it with dried bread cubes, diced apples, and cheddar cheese. I moistened the stuffing with cream, then stuffed the pumpkins. I ended up with enough stuffing for about five or six small pumpkins, so mixed a couple of eggs into the extra and made it into a bread pudding.

I thought this turned out quite good. Chicken, cheddar, and apple is a classic combination. Between the cream and the liquid exuded by the pumpkin, the stuffing was quite moist. The pumpkins picked up the flavor of the onion and cheese as well. The pumpkin is quite good with just a dab of butter or margarine.

Chicken, Apple, and Cheddar Stuffed Pumpkin

6 one pound pumpkins, cleaned
1 1/2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
1/2 small red onion, diced
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 cups dried bread cubes
1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1 gala apple, peeled, cored, and diced
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup heavy cream, approximately
salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute chicken in olive oil until about halfway done. Add onion and garlic, and cook until chicken is cooked, and onion is tender. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, mix chicken, bread cubes, apple, and cheese. Moisten with cream, until moist but not soggy.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Stuff mixture into pumpkins,then cover with lid of the pumpkin. Place pumpkins in a shallow baking dish in the oven, then add about 3/4 inch of hot tap water to dish. Bake until stuffing is set, and pumpkin is tender, about one and a half hours. Remove lids about 20 minutes before done, to brown top of stuffing.

Remove from oven, and let rest five minutes. Slice pumpkins in half to serve.

Happy Eating!