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Cheesy Artichoke Pumpkin Dip

November 13th, 2012

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I basically have nothing but food on the brain. All types, all courses. It’s practically manic (as if you haven’t noticed.)

And when I was at the grocery store this morning I kind of got obsessed with these mini pumpkins they had on display. And with the exception of one more pumpkin pie recipe (stay tuned for Friday) I had promised that I wouldn’t make any more pumpkin dishes. I am well aware that there has been an overload of pumpkin around here, and I guess (minus that pie of course) that I justified the purchase of the foresaid cute mini- pumpkin with the idea that whatever I made with it would be like my pumpkin finale (uh, minus the pie).

Ok, I will just move on to the cheesy artichoke dip that I baked into that cute little pumpkin. I still have tons of Feta cheese left over from my Greek food segment that I did last month. Before you get all grossed out- Feta lasts a really, really long time! I also had goat cheese, and to my delight, I found a nice can of artichoke hearts in the pantry. A tiny bit of garlic and chili rounded out the dip.

When you pile the dip in the pumpkin and slow bake it, the pumpkin gets really soft and then when you scoop the dip out with a cracker, you get part of the pumpkin too. It’s pretty awesome. Not to mention the festive display. Wouldn’t this be a great appetizer before Thanksgiving dinner?

To make this, this is what you do:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and get out a sheet pan.

Cut the top off of the pumpkin and reserve. Scrape out the insides and continue until all of the seeds and stringy insides are scraped clean. Place the cleaned out pumpkin and top on a sheet pan.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the cheeses, chili and garlic. Puree until they are well blended.

Add the artichoke hearts and pulse a couple seconds until they are incorporated but still chunky.

Add a pinch of cayenne.

Transfer the cheese dip to the inside of the pumpkin.

(At this point you can put the top back on the pumpkin and refrigerate up to a day before roasting.)

Place the pumpkin on the sheet pan. Roast the pumpkin with the top on for 30 minutes, and then take the top of and broil until the top is golden and bubbly and the pumpkin is getting golden- another couple minutes.
Serve hot with crackers or baguette slices.