Vegan Stuffed Pumpkin

Eight years ago (to the day 😯 I'm now realizing after looking back at my blog), I stuffed my first pumpkin. It was based on this recipe -- though even then I didn't follow it exactly. Today, I stuffed another one. Wanting to (1) use up things in the fridge and (2) make it Vegan, I completely winged it as to the fillings. Here's what I did:

In a pan I sauteed the following (all minced) items in oil with some salt and pepper:

• 1 small onion
• 1 stalk of celery
• several cloves of garlic

Once that was sweated down, I added 4 or 5 chopped dates and a large handful of chopped pecans -- then cooked it all a little more.

While this was all happening, I chopped up the celery leaves, some fresh parsley, fresh dill, fresh mint, and fresh rosemary -- and threw it all into a bowl with cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste.

The bread (sourdough) that I was using wasn't stale enough for my liking, so I cut it into cubes and baked it until it was dried and starting to brown around the edges. (There were, if I am remembering correctly, 5 small slices of bread -- but of course you can use more or less as you prefer.) After cooling for a few minutes, it too went into the bowl.

While the bread was baking, I grabbed a lemon that had been partially peeled for some prior purpose, and squeezed about half its juice into the bowl -- plus added a handful of sunflower seeds.

Then I decided that maybe a little extra binding might be needed, so I made a chia egg (1 Tbsp. chia seeds + 3 Tbsp. water, left to sit for about 5 minutes) and put that in as well. This is how it looked once I thoroughly mixed everything together:

Finally, I stuffed it into a cleaned-out pumpkin (I really packed it in there to make it all fit), popped the lid back on, and baked it for about an hour and twenty minutes in a 350-degree oven (your mileage may vary, but basically just go until the flesh can be easily pierced with a knife).

After letting it cool for a while, we finally sliced in . . .

Other than forgetting to put some salt and pepper on the flesh of the pumpkin before stuffing it, this came out really nice -- and is served here with some deliciously mulled cider that my husband made. 

This post is an original recipe that I created from scratch.

My goal is to share my love of food simply -- without all the fluff (unless it's Marshmallow Fluff!), long winded stories, excessive and repetitive photos, or incessant rambling that I see on other blogs.  I personally tend to skip over all that, just scrolling straight to the bottom in hopes of finding the recipe right away.  Therefore, I hope you appreciate the brevity above.

** You'll also never find ads here. **

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below or
contact me directly using the form near the top of the right-hand column.

Around the World in Foodventures (Greece: GEMISTA and GALAKTOBOUREKO)

I've had stuffed peppers before -- all my life, in fact.  But they were always kind of just thrown together; never from an actual thought out, tried and true, or traditional recipe.  So, when my good friend who happens to be Greek and who lives in Greece suggested Gemista (stuffed vegetables) for this installment, I didn't hesitate even though it doesn't seem to be any kind of official national dish.  According to my friend, Gemista is a food that everyone knows the smell and taste of, and pretty much everyone and their grandmother has their own way and secrets to cooking it.

He also told me I should try Galaktoboureko (a/k/a "milk pie" or "custard pie") -- another food that he says pretty much all Greeks fuss about, and even sweet shops are forever in competition over who makes the best.

So here they are (plated up together as part of a whole meal): 

Specifically on this plate is a stuffed green pepper, a stuffed orange pepper, a stuffed tomato,
and some potato wedges that roasted in the same pan; on the side there is bread and
feta cheese topped with dried oregano and olive oil; and then up top, the
Galaktoboureko garnished with lemon peel and a cinnamon stick

The recipes I used were the very ones that awesome friend supplied -- and although I could 95% follow these YouTube videos just by watching (it's otherwise, uh, all Greek to me - 😊) they do include links in the video descriptions to written recipes that can be translated):

• Gemista: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dESrdMD4xc&feature=youtu.be
• Galaktoboureko: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5O083X2CXM&feature=youtu.be

The verdict?  These are the best stuffed peppers (and stuffed tomatoes) I've ever had, full of classic Greek flavors.  I would definitely make them again -- though I don't feel it was necessary to add water to the baking dish (they came out somewhat waterlogged and I think the ingredients would have given off enough liquid for this purpose themselves).  As for the milk/custard pie . . . . oh, yes!  Absolutely delightful, except for battling with poor quality store-bought phyllo dough during the build (of which I will have to find a better brand or make my own next time), and in my opinion there was way more syrup than I really wanted to put on the finished pastry (so now we have leftover lemony simple syrup to use in cocktails!).  I guess all these thoughts amount to that everyone-having-their-own-ways-and-secrets-to-making-things thing. 😉

Finally, I give you this bonus close-up of the Galaktoboureko because layers!

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain

Around the World in Foodventures (Croatia: ZAGORJE ŠTRUKLI)

I admittedly hesitated to make Zagorje Štrukli even though the interwebs told me that it's pretty much the most ubiquitous food in Croatia, because it felt like it was just going to be a basic cheese ravioli.  And it kind of is -- but that's okay because it's also really, really versatile -- which I bet is why Croatians love it.  They eat it in all kinds of savory and sweet ways: for an appetizer, added to soups, starring as the main course, when one needs a quick snack, or even turned into sweet desserts.

Tonight, I decided to cook it two typical ways (baked and boiled), plus tried a couple of basic toppings (crème fraîche, bread crumbs browned in butter, and a sprinkle of brown sugar).  Pictured below are all of those variations, plus some cross-sections so you can see the filling and dough layering. 

The left-hand plate (from top to bottom) contains a boiled Štrukli topped with bread crumb butter
and brown sugar, a Štrukli baked in butter and crème fraîche, and a cross-section of a plain boiled
Štrukli.  The right-hand plate (again from top to bottom) contains the cross-section of a Štrukli baked
in butter and crème fraîche, a boiled Štrukli topped with just bread crumb butter,
and finally, another whole Štrukli baked in butter and crème fraîche.

I referenced two YouTube videos to learn what to do:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVuY3uRtHTs
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycl_yg_LM68

. . . and I have to say, I'm a newly converted fan of rolling and stretching out dough on a piece of cloth.  I had seen people do it before, but never tried it, and I'm here now to tell you that I think it's the best way to prevent sticking and shrink-back.

Anyways, my review of Zagorje Štrukli (at least the ways I prepared it) is boy oh boy is this rich!  Which isn't surprising given that each form is essentially an exercise in different ways to combine eggs, cheese, cream, and butter.  I was surprised that I preferred the boiled version over the baked.  And my favorite of the ways I tried is definitely boiled with bread crumb butter and brown sugar on top.  It occurred to me too late this evening (I had already surpassed my fill) that one of these would probably be lovely with some fruit jam either cooked inside with the cheese or simply spread on top, or maybe (especially on the baked ones) a drizzle of honey.  I plan to test that theory perhaps for breakfast tomorrow.  Yum. 

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain