Stuffed butternut pumpkin

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
1	small butternut pumpkin
60ml	water
30g	butter
1	onion, finely chopped
1 rasher	streaky bacon, rind removed and chopped
185g	minced beef, pork, veal or lamb, cooked or uncooked
or 125g	cheese, grated
1	large ripe tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon	mixed fresh herbs, chopped
or 1 teaspoon	dried herbs, mixed with 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
80g	fresh breadcrumbs
	salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cut pumpkin in half lengthways and scoop out seeds and fibres. Place cut sides down in a baking dish, add water and bake in a preheated moderate oven for 30 minutes until just tender.
Meanwhile, heat butter and cook onion and bacon gently until onion is soft. If using uncooked meat, add it and cook, stirring and breaking down lumps with a fork, until lightly browned. Otherwise, mix onion with meat or cheese off the heat. Add tomato, herbs, half the breadcrumbs and salt and pepper.
Scoop out flesh from pumpkin, leaving a thin wall. Dice flesh, add to stuffing mixture and fill pumpkin shells. Sprinkle with remaining breadcrumbs. Return to oven and bake for 15–20 minutes or until topping is brown and crisp.