Butternut Pumpkin with Herbed Mushroom Stuffing
I teamed up with Harris Farm to bring to you a delicious veggie filled, vegan Christmas lunch spread. This butternut pumpkin with herbed mushroom stuffing is the perfect combo for a healthy Christmas lunch spread. This dish is stuffed with herbs, mushrooms, sage, pine nuts and some sneaky balsamic vinegar.
This recipe is really simple for how good it looks. You just need a sharp knife to chop the butternut in half evenly. Then a spoon to scoop out the seeds and flesh. The more flesh you scoop out will change the ratio of pumpkin to stuffing – which might be a good thing if you have a giant butternut pumpkin. Thens it’s in a pan to sauté down all the stuffing and back into the oven to heat through. Simple and delicious food that will cause a stir.
Butternut Pumpkin with Herbed Mushroom Stuffing. Recipe by Lunch Lady Lou. Photography/styling by Bonnie Coumbe.
Ingredients
- 1 butternut pumpkin approx 1kg
- Scant 1/4 cup 30g pine nuts
- 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- Salt
- 1 cup 120g Swiss brown mushroom, diced
- 3 cloves garlic roughly smashed and chopped
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons sage chopped
- 2 tablespoons parsley chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup sourdough bread crumbs
- Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
- Cut butternut pumpkin in half lengthways. Use a tablespoon to scoop out seeds and flesh. Put seeds to the side, we’ll roast these. Continue scooping out flesh up the middle of the pumpkin, in a small line around 2cm wide and 3cm deep. Put pumpkin flesh to the side, we’ll use this in our stuffing.
- Place pumpkin on tray. Remove pumpkin flesh from seeds and scatter seeds on a second tray along with pine nuts.
- Drizzle pumpkin with 2 tablespoons olive oil, use your hands to coat all flesh and skin. Place in the oven to roast. The pumpkin will take 30 minutes until it’s soft to touch, the pine nuts will take about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat a pan on medium heat and drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil, add onion with a good pinch of salt. Cook for 5 minutes, until fragrant.
- Add mushrooms and garlic, mix and cook for 5 minutes.
- After 10 minutes remove pine nuts from the oven. They will be golden brown and toasted.
- Add the leftover pumpkin flesh with 2 tablespoons water, sage, parsley, cinnamon, breadcrumbs and a good crack of pepper and pinch of salt. Mix well to cook for about 10 minutes on a low heat. Give it a stir regularly to ensure it doesn’t catch the bottom of the pan.
- Once mushroom mix is cooked, stir through the pine nuts.
- After 30 minutes in the oven, remove pumpkin and allow to cool slightly so you can handle it. Spoon mushroom mixture into one side of the pumpkin, pile it up. Place empty half on top. Tie with string firmly to secure in 3-4 spots.
- Drizzle the pumpkin with another tablespoon of olive oil, plus salt and pepper. Return to oven for 15-20 minutes to cook through.
- Remove from oven and serve with toasted pumpkin seeds scattered around pumpkin.
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