Cute Stuffed Pumpkin

When I saw this cute little pumpkin in the green grocers I knew I had to make something with it.  I've never seen such small pumpkins there before.

Ingredients – please note this was enough to stuff the pumpkin and a half bell pepper: 

1 small pumpkin + half a bell pepper

2 slices of bread, crusts off and cut into chunks

Grated cheese (I used a kind of cheddar – gruyere would be fab)

2 cloves of garlic , chopped

Small amount of thinly sliced ham, cut into pieces

½ tsp of dried thyme – if you have fresh use more

¼ cup or so of cream

Nutmeg – preferably freshly grated 

Something to put on at the end for garnish – I used a few little pieces of zucchini and chili – herbs would have been great 

How to cook it: 

Preheat your oven to a moderate heat.

Cut a cap out of the top of your pumpkin and scoop out the seeds etc in the middle

Season the inside of the pumpkin with salt and pepper

Fill up the pumpkin with a mix of the bread, cheese, garlic, thyme and ham – push it in firmly and fill it as high as you can. 

Pour the cream into the pumpkin as slowly as you can so not too much spills over the side 

Pop your cap back on the pumpkin and then bake for about 45 minutes with the cap off for the last 10.  Exactly how long you will need will depend on the size of your pumpkin – it's ready when you can pierce it easily with a knife (through the skin). 

I did some stuffed capsicum (bell pepper) the same way but the pumpkin worked better as a flavour combo in my opinion.