Pumpkin Tuesdays: Pumpkin stuffed with spiced lamb and rice

As promised here is the first in my weekly posts of pumpkin recipes. This one i took from my middle eastern cookbook entitled, The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. I highly recommend this book. I have never made a recipe that wasn't fantastic from this book.

It's basically a pumpkin stuffed with a spiced lamb and rice mixture.

Ingredients:

1 large sugar pie pumpkin
1/2 cup brown rice cooked
1 pound of ground lamb
1 onion finely chopped
2 tablespoons of raisins
1/4 cup of pine nuts (I used pecans because I had no pine nuts at the time)
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste

First cut the pumpkin open from the top. Scoop out the seeds and stringy bits. Set aside.
Heat a large skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil. Saute the onion until translucent.
Then add in the lamb and cook until browned. When the meat is browned, add in the rice and spices. Then stuff the pumpkin with the lamb rice mixture. Place pumpkin on a baking sheet in a 375 degree oven and bake for one hour.

After and hour test to see if the pumpkin is cooked by inserting a fork into the flesh. If it goes in easily it's ready. Cut into six slices and serve with lamb and rice mixture on top.

Yes you do eat the flesh of the pumpkin. It should be soft enough to just scoop right off the skin. Enjoy!