Pumpkin Stew

What do you do with that pumpkin that you bought for Halloween? Make Pumpkin Stew of course! Wait until you see the expression on you family’s faces when you open the oven door to remove your delicious stew baked in a pumpkin. Just make sure before you begin that your pumpkin will fit in your oven. This stew is a Daniels family favorite and it wouldn’t be fall without it!

Ingredients
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds boneless beef chuck, trimmed and cut into 1 ½ inch cubes
2 tomatoes seeded and chopped
1 large green, yellow and red pepper, seeded and chopped
3 medium Yukon potatoes, diced
3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon honey
2 cups beef broth
1 medium pumpkin, about 12 pounds (measured to fit ion your oven)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 ½ cups cooked corn at room temperature
1 teaspoon dried marjoram

Directions
Heat the oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Add the onion and cook until soft.
Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Add the meat to the saucepan and sauté until browned don all sides.
Add the tomatoes, peppers, potatoes salt, pepper, honey, broth, and reserved
onions.
Heat to boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for 2 hour.

Meanwhile preheat oven to 350F. Cut the top off the pumpkin and reserve.
Scrape out the seeds and strings and brush the inside with the melted butter.
Sprinkle salt with pepper. Place the pumpkin on a large oven proof plate and set
inside a roasting pan. Fill the pan with enough water to come just under the rim
of the plate. Place the pumpkin top on a separate baking sheet.

Ladle the stew into the pumpkin shell. Bake until the shell and op are just tender,
about 1 hour. During the last 10 minutes, stir in the corn and marjoram.
Carefully transfer the pumpkin, on its plate to a larger platter. To serve, ladle the
stew into soup bowls, scooping out some pumpkin meat with each serving.