Stuffed Cinderella pumpkin! This was such a great, satisfying autumn soup. The perfect meal once the weather has turned really into winter and you’re craving something healthy, filling, and deeply warming.
I took a lot of liberties with this recipe, some of which were intentional…most of which were not. The base recipe is at the end, but here’s what I did/would recommend for it (when there’s a range, the lower number is what I accidentally used but the higher number is the original and I think would work great, too):
SERVING: At least 6 as main entree. Could be 8 with crusty bread.
1 Cinderella pumpkin (wait until it’s turned orange), ~10 pounds
2 packages cooked chicken sausage, ~20 oz. (I used roasted pepper+Assaggio and it was great)
1/2 - 1 small cabbage, chopped with leaves separated
1 rutabaga (or 1 parsnip), peeled and chopped
2 - 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 - 2 celery ribs, chopped
1/2 c fresh parsley, chopped
1 1/2 - 2 c chicken broth
1 package dried French onion soup mix
Hearty dash of red pepper flakes
Hardy dash of garlic powder (because I forgot to add the garlic)
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed cookie sheet with foil. [I didn’t do the latter and I totally should have]
2. Cut around the top of the pumpkin to make a lid. Use a large metal spoon to scoop out and discard the inside membrane and seeds. [This was surprisingly easy/quick compared to pie pumpkins]
3. Cover pumpkin with its cut out “lid” on top and bake for 3 hours. [I think 2 would be plenty if you don’t have the time. 3 was sort of an accident, though a happy one! Expect the pumpkin to release a LOT of water inside.]
4. Meanwhile [this can be done anytime in those hours], sauté the sausage in a SS pan over high heat until browned. Remove from pan. Stir in the carrots, celery, onion, and rutabaga; cook and stir until tender, about 5 minutes. Next add the cabbage; cook about 5 minutes. Add the corn and the chicken broth; stir to combine. Stir in the parsley, onion soup mix, and spices. Season to taste with hearty salt and pepper. Add the sausage back in and stir to combine. Test that carrots are tender.
5. Keeping the pumpkin on the baking sheet, spoon out two large ladles of the pumpkin liquid into a separate bowl and set aside. Then add the vegetable-sausage mixture into the pumpkin, and replace the lid.* (You may need an extra hand to scoop the filling into the sides of the pumpkin if it’s collapsing… I was surprised at how much I was able to fill this way!) THEN, add as much of the reserved pumpkin liquid back in as you can once filled.
*I actually didn’t replace the lid because mine was looking a little saggy, so I just kept it on the countertop while everything else was in for the final bake. Turned out great this way!
6. Reduce oven temperature to 325. Cook the filled pumpkin 30 - 60 minutes. (I did 60 out of personal convenience, and it worked out great but probably was not necessary!)
7. Remove from oven and place pumpkin, cookie sheet and all, on a flat surface. If you can, scoop some of the pumpkin flesh out from the sides and combine with the brothy vegetable mixture.
8. To serve, scrape the pumpkin flesh from the bottom of the lid and put at least half a cup at the bottom of individual soup bowls. Then proceeded to ladle in as much as you’d like from the pumpkin! I found it easiest to ladle first then scoop and add the flesh from the sides straight into the bowls; then loosely stir to combine.
The more you ladle out for the pumpkin, the more you’ll realize how much pumpkin flush there is to be distributed!
I’d already deliberately modified close to half the recipe’s ingredients before I even started cooking. But then on top of that, putting this post together made me realize how much I was not paying attention to the recipe while making it, haha. Somehow, this recipe was way more intuition than instruction following. But it worked out…for example, the original calls for baking the pumpkin only an hour to start, then multiple hours once the veggies are added. I don’t think this was necessary, as everything really got off to a great start on the stove and didn’t require hours more to be cooked enough.
I used a typically-sized Cinderella pumpkin, which is to say, it took up a full cookie sheet and about half of my oven height. When I bought the pumpkin in early October, it was a ghostly green and I honestly didn’t realize it would ripen to a bright, classic pumpkin orange, but it did!
I’ve tried a few whole-roasted-pumpkin recipes before, but I wasn’t really taken by any of them until this one. This was definitely a winner, at least the way I did it! The variety of fillings that I put inside were really great, but I could also see throwing in sage, different kinds of sausage, garlic (which I was supposed to but completely forgot), or really anything that feels like a good mix in the moment. Beyond the basics of making sure you cook the pumpkin long enough, this recipe is really much more art than science. :)
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/151927/cinderella-pumpkin-bowl-with-vegetables-and-sausage/
