Overstuffed Pumpkin with Cornbread, Apples and Turkey Sausage with Sauvignon Blanc

Ingredients

• 0.3 cup butter melted
• 2 rib celery chopped
• 1 teaspoon celery seed 
• 3 cups chicken broth 
• 2  eggs beaten
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed 
• 0.3 cup parsley fresh divided chopped
• 0.3 cup sage fresh divided chopped
• 3  garlic cloves minced
• 2  granny smith apples cubed peeled
• 2 pounds ground turkey sausage 
• 1 cup heavy cream 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1  onion chopped
• 2  orange zest 
• 4 pound pumpkin 
• 8 servings salt and pepper 
• 1 cup sauvignon blanc wine 
• 16 ounce cornbread stuffing 

Equipment

• bowl
• frying pan
• oven
• wooden spoon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cut off the lid of the pumpkin and set it aside. Pull out the seeds and strings from inside the pumpkin.
3. Brush the inside flesh with melted butter, season with salt and pepper.
4. Place pumpkin on a roasting rack set inside a pan; bake for 15 minutes.
5. In a large skillet, heat oil over moderate heat.
6. Add onion, celery, garlic, apples, celery seed, and fennel seed.
7. Sprinkle in orange zest and 2 tablespoons each parsley and sage. Cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Add the ground sausage, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, and brown until no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Deglaze the pan with wine, cook down 2 minutes to evaporate the alcohol. Stir in the cream, check seasoning.
9. Scrape the sausage mixture into a large bowl and fold in the cornbread. Gradually blend in the eggs and chicken broth, until the stuffing is evenly moistened.
10. Add remaining parsley and sage. Fill the pumpkin with stuffing, return to the oven, and bake 20 minutes until the eggs are cooked and the stuffing has a little lift.
11. Serve stuffing in the pumpkin bowl topped with lid.