Hello, pumpkin!
This week I feel compelled to share with you the story of how I came to participate in French Fridays with Dorie.
I was first introduced to Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table and FFWD by Pam at Sidewalk Shoes. She gave the book a glowing review and included a link to the FFWD site.
Look at all that good stuff.
A couple of weeks later, I heard Dorie on All Things Considered on NPR. She was at home with Michele Norris and they made “Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good” together. They made it sound so good! How exciting would it be to cook with Dorie in your own kitchen!? You can read about it and listen to the story here.
After that I checked out the reviews on Amazon, and immediately added the book to my WishList. It would be one of the items I was most hoping to receive for Christmas.
Ready to go in the oven...
Around this time I was gearing up to start my own blog. I thought that participating in French Fridays would be a fun way to give some structure and inspiration to my new blog, hopefully attract some readers, and also have some fun cooking and eating.
I couldn’t wait for Christmas so I could get started! I thought that “Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good” would be one of the first recipes I tried. Of course, I never did make that recipe. Until now. “Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good” is this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe!
Wow that looks good!
This pumpkin really is stuffed with everything good: bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, herbs, and cream. It bakes for about 2 hours, until the pumpkin is super tender and the stuffing is hot and bubbly. I took the top of the pumpkin off for the last 20 minutes of cooking as Dorie suggested, and the stuffing got nicely browned on top.
My husband loves any kind of squash, so he really enjoyed this dish. I feel kind of “meh” about squash, so while I didn’t mind the pumpkin part I didn’t love it either. But the “everything good” stuffing makes up for it: it is divine!
Mmmmmm...
From Scratch 
I heard that same NPR segment and thought the same thing – this looks and sounds fabulous! Unfortunately I’m the only one in my household that enjoys/appreciates squash, so this would not be very practical to make for dinner. Perhaps I could make it for another family…and invite myself to share!
Yum! I am going to have to try this. I have a sugar pumpkin on my counter just waiting to be put to good use.
Thanks for pointing us to the NPR feature! I really like this, especially the flexibility/forgiveness of the ingredients and proportions to use. Your stuffing looks delicious.
Mmmm we loved this too.
Karen, Nice post! I listen to NPR all the time but missed this one, until I was looking for a link for this recipe, and there it was. I am a squash lover, so I was excited about this recipe, however I never thought my husband would even taste it! He loved it! Go figure. Yours looks delicious! Have a nice weekend!
Loved your story how you became a member of the group. And the recipe tasted very well.
First , let me say I already bookmarked your pasta with brussels sprouts and pine nuts. It sounds absolutely delicious. Secondly, I just had this conversation with Hubby about the extra stuffing and cooking it the next day for lack of space. With a little bit of freshly made gravy, turkey
slices and stuffing, what’s not to like. Even though you were not thrilled
about pumpkin, yours looks fantastic.
I heard that same NPR piece last year. Dorie was so charming, and the dish just sounded so wonderful, I couldn’t wait to try it!
Your pictures are so pretty, Karen. I love that you can see the layers of wonderfulness in that last photo. I really enjoyed this I think especially because of the pumpkin mixed in with each bite of stuffing. Thanks for sharing your FFwD story with us. I am going to check out that interview later. Hope you are having a good weekend!
I’m starting to feel a little left out on the NPR segment, but I guess I don’t listen to radio a lot – I spend a lot of my business week traveling and have been unsuccessfully trying to learn Italian – should probably stick with cooking. Great post, and fun story about how you got started with FFWD and your blog!
Happy French Weekend!
Somehow, I need to figure out how to find NPR to listen to. Apparently, there is a black hole in my life 🙂
I love looking at everyone’s pumpkins. YUM.
Wasn’t that a great interview, Dorie just sounds like such a sweetheart and someone I would love to have in my own kitchen.
How nice that you finally got to try the recipe and even better that you enjoyed it (or at least the stuffing part). We really loved this one in my house and will definitely make it again.
Im with you! I didn’t really care for the pumpkin, but I did eat a bit of it and I love, love, loved the stuffing! Although I went with rice instead… doubling up on the bacon and cream … : )
Wow Karen, This recipe really looks good. I’m going to make it soon. We have two nice sugar pumpkins from this year’s garden that will be ideal.
Love how your pumpkin turned out and really enjoyed hearing about how you got involved with FFWD. It has been about a year now since Nana and I joined on – I have to go back and double check but I believe Dorie came up on the internet when I was using the Epicurious site. Read about FFWD- bought two books (one for me, one for Nana) and our families have enjoyed many great treats since !
I made this last night and it was wonderful, we both loved it. Thanks for the inspiration!