{Sausage Apple Stuffed Pumpkin}

Sausage Apple Stuffed Pumpkin is one of the prettiest dishes I have ever served. My only regret is that I didn’t make it for guests, as it makes for such a lovely presentation. Maybe forego the turkey this Thanksgiving, and serve this up instead?

Chef’s note: This recipe moves pretty fast once you get it going, so I highly recommend measuring out and prepping all of the ingredients before you get cooking. Also, I got a little excited buttering the inside of my pumpkins, and accidentally buttered the outsides at the same time. This made it almost impossible to season the insides with salt and pepper. I was bowling with pumpkins on my countertop. So, do as I say and not as I did, follow the instructions in order, and you’ll be good to go. Also, if you are hesitant about working with a pumpkin and scraping out the insides, know that it’s not too difficult with smaller pumpkins like these. Also, the use of grapefruit spoons and the serrated edge of this avocado tool helped us clean ours out more quickly.

Ingredients

2 small pumpkin pie Pumpkins
1 lb. Hot Italian Sausage
1 Granny Smith Apple
½ cup Yellow Onion, diced
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup white wine
2 teaspoons fresh or dried thyme
2 teaspoons fresh or dried oregano
4 tablespoons melted butter, divided
1 teaspoon Sea Salt, plus more to taste
½ teaspoon Fresh-Cracked Black Pepper, plus more to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Prepare the pumpkins by removing the stem (plus a little extra squash), and scooping out the stringy pulp and seeds. Set the seeds aside if you would like to roast them later.

In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of melted butter, the dried cranberries, thyme, oregano, 1 teaspoon Sea Salt, and ½ teaspoon fresh-cracked Black Pepper. Set aside.

Cook the sausage in a skillet on medium-high for about 8 minutes until done.
When done, remove the sausage from the skillet and set aside. Turn heat down to medium.

Toss the diced onion into the skillet, and cook for a few minutes until golden and tender.

Add the diced apples and cooked sausage to the skillet and cook for another 3 minutes, allowing the apples to soften.
Add the white wine to the skillet, and cook for 2-3 more minutes.

Remove the skillet from the heat and set aside. Add in the cranberry mixture, and mix everything together to create the stuffing.

Place the scraped-out pumpkins into a shallow baking pan. Brush the inside of each pumpkin with melted butter. Then, season the inside of each pumpkin with Sea Salt and fresh-cracked Black Pepper.

Once the insides are seasoned, brush the outside of each pumpkin with the remaining melted butter.
Scoop the stuffing into each pumpkin.

Add 1 cup of water to the baking pan, so that the water is about ½” deep. Cover both pumpkins with aluminum foil.
Cook for 30-45 minutes, until the pumpkin is tender. (You can test this by inserting a sharp knife into the side of the pumpkin to see how easily it goes through.)
Serve as-is, or, cut pumpkins in half vertically for easier access.