Having stumbled across this on several sites and been intrigued I thought we'd make a spin on the Stuffed Pumpkin craze that's all up in the vegetarian holiday food camp: But this would work well as a sidedish for the big feasts at harvest time of the year, or would lend itself well to the addition of bacon or ham or sausage for the omnivores in the audience.

Some of my original inspriation came from this recipe: http://www.doriegreenspan.com/2008/09/pumpkin-packed-with-bread-and-cheese-a-recipe-in-progress.html But were added to by this: http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1822,144177-254203,00.html and then tweaked a tad futher by what we wanted it to taste like and what we had.

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Source

Preparation TimeSeveral hours

ServesDepending on the size of the pumpkin: 2-8 servings.

1. Pre-heat oven to about 350 degrees. Hollow out pumpkin. Save the top. Cut top off carefully, try to keep knife at about a 45 degree angle. Make the top hole sort of smallish. Try to make it so that the top can close with very little gaps. Remove all pith and seeds. (If you like retain the seeds to bake later. Compost the pith.) Mix the Cinnamon, Clove, Nutmeg and brownsugar into a rub and rub it into the inside of the pumpkin. Right into the flesh.
Take onion and garlic (and any other firm ingredients you choose, like celery, for example) and saute them in a pan. I use butter for this. then add the rest of the butter and the milk. I am also thinking of trying this with a veggie broth, but any broth would do. Make the stuffing in a large bowl. Take the torn/cubed bread and add in spices and the broth/milk/butter mixture. You can add about half the cheese into this now. We used firm cheeses. We had a block of apple smoked Gruyere and a tub of crumbled goat cheese. Ladle the stuffing into the pumpkin, adding the rest of the cheese in layers. I usually do a mid layer and a top layer of cheese. Also, use heavy cream, or something after spooning in the stuffing. I do this at each layer to balance it out. In this particular time we made it we used Crème fraiche with nutmeg and cinnamon mixed in. About a half a cup to a cup depending on how much stuffing you have. Once you have your stuffing and cheese parfait, put the top back on and pop the entire pumpkin in the oven (Which should now be at 350) and leave it there for an hour to 2 hours, depending on the size of the pumpkin and how much you have going on in the way of stuffing in there. This recipe really varies, from pumpkin to pumpkin. What you're looking for is the sides to be soft to the touch. The flesh should easily spoon off the skin, and have the consistency of well cooked sweet potato. We kept the rest of the Crème fraiche on the table when we served it.