Arts & Entertainment

Thanksgiving Cookbook: Calling All Recipes

Got a signature Thanksgiving dish in your family? Share it with the community!

Thanksgiving means many different things to many different people. However, if there's one thing we can all agree on, it's the joy of the Turkey Day meal. 

Every family has their own special Thanksgiving dish, and we want to hear yours. Got a pie recipe that's been handed down through the ages? A new addition to your holiday spread that's proven a winner? Tell us in the comments.

To get the ball rolling, here's my own family's stuffed pumpkin recipe, courtesy of my mom in Massachusetts.

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Pumpkins aren't just for Halloween. And this hearty side dish comes
in its own pumpkin bowl, so one less dish to wash! It can easily be
adapted for vegetarians and lends itself to all kinds of creative additions. This recipe is adapted from one in Dorie Greenspan's book Around My French Table.

INGREDIENTS

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  • Stuffed Pumpkin
  • 1 6-7 pound sugar pumpkin
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/2 lb stale bread, cut into chunks
  • 1/2 lb cheese—cheddar, gruyere, emmenthal or a mixture, cut into small chunks
  • 6 garlic cloves, chopped (use more if you like garlic)
  • 8 strips bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled into small pieces
  • 1/2 cup chopped scallions or chives
  • 2/3 cup whipping cream or creme fraiche
  • 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, minced
  • A few pinches of nutmeg

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil or parchment paper (pumpkin will leak a bit).
  2. Cut the top off of the pumpkin, so it looks like a casserole dish with a lid. Remove the seeds and the stringy bits, just like you do when making a jack-o-lantern. Season the inside of the pumpkin with salt and pepper.
  3. Mix together the bread, cheese, garlic, bacon and herbs in a large bowl. Season with a bit more pepper.
  4. Stuff the mixture into the pumpkin.
  5.  Stir together the cream and nutmeg, and pour this over the stuffing. You want it moist, but not wet.
  6. Put the pumpkin lid on and bake for 90 minutes to 2 hours--you want the stuffing hot and bubbly but you don't want the pumpkin shell to collapse. Take the top off for the last few minutes so the stuffing can brown on the top.  Pumpkin is done when you can pierce the pumpkin flesh easily with the tip of a knife.
  7. CAREFULLY remove from the oven, transfer to a platter and serve.

You can cut the pumpkin into wedges or guests can scoop out the
delicious filling, making sure to include some cooked pumpkin from the sides of the pumpkin bowl!

Variations:  Substitute cooked rice for the bread.  Add chopped greens such as kale or chard.  Add chopped nuts, chopped apples, or dried cranberries. Use vegetable or chicken stock in place of cream (use about half the quantity though). Be creative!


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