Stuffed Mini Pumpkins

1. Turn on broiler. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add walnuts, grapeseed oil, brown sugar and cinnamon and toss to coat. Place walnuts on a low-rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Place baking sheet under the broiler on the top rack of your oven and broil for 30-45 seconds. The goal here is to get the walnuts nice and amber-brown but not burnt, which can happen very quickly because of the brown sugar. So keep an eye on these guys and don’t walk away. Remove from oven and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 F and position baking rack in the middle of the oven. Once oven is up to temperature, place the small pumpkins on a shallow-rimmed baking tray and pop it into the oven for 30 minutes. When done, the pumpkins should be easily punctured by a dull object like a butter knife. Remove from oven and allow pumpkins to cool.
3. While pumpkins are cooking and cooling, add onion and sausage into a 12″ non-stick skillet and cook over medium-high heat until no pink remains in the sausage. Remove sausage and onion mixture from pan and set aside Next, add olive oil into the skillet and allow it to heat until shimmering and aromatic, about 2 minutes. Add rosemary and allow it to cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds to one minute. Toss in the minced kale and give it a good stir so it’s completely coated with the oil. Using your hands or a food processor, mash the polenta. The idea here is that we want stuffing, not solid polenta cakes. Now add the polenta into the kale, and give it another good stir to incorporate everything. Let this cook for 3-5 minutes, reduce heat to medium-low, and add cream and canned tomatoes. Give the mixture another good stir until everything is nicely mixed together and allow it to cook for about 2-3 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. Cut the tops off the pumpkins and set aside. Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds and fibrous strings inside the pumpkin. You can reserve the seeds if desired. Fill pumpkin cavities with stuffing and garnish with mascarpone cheese and cinnamon-toasted walnuts. Serve.