A while back my wife and I decided that if we were going to justify storing our cookbook collection, we needed to make at least one recipe from each book every week.It sounded simple enough, and I happily joined her in browsing through Taste of Home magazine’s Prize winning Recipes (spring 2006), the first of the books on our target list, picking three recipes as we went. Of course, it all went kind of sideways from there.
The recipe in question was for Curried Beef-Stuffed Squash, which looked wonderful at first glance. Unfortunately, my penchant for winging it in the kitchen very quickly led way to a completely new recipe based on the flavors I was craving at the moment. It seems no matter how much I want to follow a recipe, the by the seat of his pants cook in me always takes over, and I never know exactly what the end result will be.
In this case, it was fabulous!
Roasted Stuffed Acorn Squash, a Sage Sensation
Ingredients:
- 3 medium acorn squash (about 1 lb. each) halved and seeded
- 1 lb sage sausage. (For those who don’t eat pork, I’ve seen turkey sausage in this flavor as well.)
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. ground fennel
- 1 tsp. ground sage
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- 1/2 cup cooked rice
- 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce (or 8 oz. homemade sauce, if you have it.)
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tbsp. dried parsley)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Place squash cut side down in a greased baking pan. Bake uncovered in a preheated 350° F oven for 35-45 minutes, or until almost tender. Remove from oven and set aside.
Cook sausage onion and garlic in a large, heavy bottomed skillet (frying pan or sauce pan) until sausage is no longer pink and onion is tender. Remove from heat, drain excess fat and return to pan. (We’re doe with the cook top kids.)
Add remaining ingredients to sausage and stir to combine. Test for seasoning and add salt and pepper as desired. (I recommend sea salt for this one, but kosher salt will do nicely.) Turn squash cut side up in baking pan and spoon equal amounts of sausage mixture into each half. (No need to cut a flat spot. The squash will be more than soft enough to form a level base when flipped, though you may need to press down just a bit.)
Add 1/4″ hot water to baking pan and cover loosely with foil. Bake at 350° F for 20-30 minutes or until heated through. Remove foil and cook an additional 10 minutes, just to add a bit of texture to the filling.
Remove from heat, let stand 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh parsley and Parmesan or Asiago cheese if desired. (I didn’t use the cheese here, but it would have been great.)
What I would have done differently had I thought of it at the time:
The only thing I can think of that might have made this better would be a bit of seasoned breadcrumbs, but even then, the star here is really the buttery, melt-in-your-mouth squash. The filling plays a very nice supporting role.
Links to other recipes like this:
- Curried Beef-Stuffed Squash, from Taste of Home Magazine
- Stuffed Acorn Squash with sausage and two rices, From Kitchen Mage
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
As usual you change a recipe to suit your mood and it turns out nicely. I ‘ve never thought of stuffing “squash” (we say pumpkin down under) with sausage. This looks like the perfect fall recipe to try soon. Looks delicious.
This looks like a great recipe for Fall, when I still have fresh herbs in the garden but the new crop of acorn squash is just coming in. Because I’d be a turkey sausage person — and I think the turkey has less flavor — I’d probably go with the cheese on top. Well, and maybe the breadcrumbs, too!
Alright, I just finished my first episode of semi homemade cooking, due to your urging. Wow, am I impressed. Her hair reminds me of Farrah’s back in the day. All foofy, light and moving in directoins. But what I finally noticed was her complete lack of jewelry. No rings, no necklaces, no ear rings, and clear nail polish. I’ll bet you dimes to dollars she’s got a belly button piercing, bet you. I think I’ll send off a creepy, stalking letter to her now. Oh joy!
Biggles
ps – Need to find a wav file of her saying, “It’s cocktail time!”
Peter,
How do you tell the different varieties apart? Would you buy this in the market as an “acorn pumpkin”?
And as for stuffing it. I’m American. We’ll stuff anything!
Lydia,
You’ve mentioned that you don’t do pork in the past. Whether that’s a requirement of faith or a lifestyle choice, I figured I’d point out that there really is no need to avoid a recipe based on that. There are alternatives and I will strive to mention them when working with pork.
(For those of you with aversions to eating beef, I can’t help you!)
Biggles,
Have I ever told you that there is something seriously wrong with you, man! That woman is frightening!
February is a tough time. Every year I try to start smoking. I got halfway through the pack this time, wasn’t easy. Made me smell dead, ashes everywhere and making sure I had a smoke with me at all times. And driving while smoking? that right there pally boy is an art form in itself. So, before I put a burn mark on me or the most awesome wagon of all time, I tossed them.
I’ll be Sandra smokes like a chimney when she’s off camera. That’s hot.
Biggles
*snort*
Doc, you crack me up!
Hi Mrs. SoMP! Thank you. I give good comment. Thank you, I’ll be here all week.
I’m off to Tivo all of Sandra Lee, will be busy for a while.
xo, Biggles
{ 2 trackbacks }