Baked Stuffed Pumpkin
Choose miniature pumpkins like Small Sugar, Little Boo, or Jack Be Little to act as individual casserole dishes in which to bake a mix of fresh pumpkin, Israeli couscous, sausage, apples, onion, and cranberries. The flavors and colors of the fall harvest make this a dish you'll enjoy serving year after year. Country Living
- 4 oz sweet Italian sausage
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 pumpkin
- 1/2 cup chopped Granny Smith apples
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1 cup Israeli couscous
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
- 1 tsp fresh oregano
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 4 small pumpkins
<strong>Make the stuffing:</strong>
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Decase and crumble the sausage meat and place it in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook the sausage until it is almost done — about 8 minutes. Remove the sausage from the pan, increase heat to medium, and add the onion and 2 cups of the chopped pumpkin. Sauté until the pumpkin begins to soften — 5 to 7 minutes. Add the chopped apple and sausage and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the wine, cook for 2 minutes, remove from heat, and set aside. Combine the couscous, dried cranberries, olive oil, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add meat mixture to the bowl and toss to combine.
<strong>Bake the pumpkins:</strong>
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Evenly fill the hollowed-out pumpkins with the stuffing mixture and place the pumpkins in a shallow baking dish. Cover the dish with aluminum foil, bake for 25 minutes, remove the foil, and bake for 10 more minutes. Serve immediately.