My garden produced abundant acorn squash this year, so I've been experimenting with different ways to prepare it (besides the classic way of roasting it with maple syrup, sucanat, and butter). Most of these experiments have ended in not-gonna-make-that-again status, but I finally found one savory way to prepare acorn squash that my whole family enjoyed: Sausage, Apple, and Cheese Stuffed Acorn Squash!
This recipe starts with roasting the acorn squash in the oven. Meanwhile, onions, apples, and sausage are combined in a skillet. Once the squash is done, the flesh is scooped out and mixed in with the sausage mixture. Add a little cheese, broil a few minutes, and it's done!
Sausage, Apple, and Cheddar Stuffed Acorn Squash
Serves 4-6
Total Preparation Time: ~ 1 hour 20 minutes
Inactive Time: 20-30 minutes
3 med/large acorn squash
1&1/2 Tb refined coconut oil
3 Tb butter
1 large onion, sliced
2 medium sweet-tart apples, such as Fuji, Pink Lady, or Yellow Delicious
8 ounces Polish Kielbasa sausage
3/4 tsp minced fresh rosemary (or 1/4 tsp dried rosemary)
1 Tb Sucanat
4 ounces of cheddar cheese
Celtic sea salt, to taste
Roast the acorn squash:
Make sure the oven rack is about 1/3 of the way from the top of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Cut each acorn squash in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to remove the seeds and stringy bits.
Rub the acorn squash flesh with refined coconut oil and season with a sprinkle of salt. Place the acorn squash halves in a roasting dish, such as 9X13 glass baking dish.
Roast the acorn squash at 350 F for about an hour, until the squash can be easily pierced with a fork. Once it is done, remove from the oven and allow to cool a bit.
While the squash roasts, prepare the stuffing:
Once the squash has been roasting for about 20-30 minutes, slice the onion.
Melt 2 Tb butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and a sprinkle of salt. Saute for 10 minutes, allowing the onion to develop some delicious browned caramelization. Reduce the heat as needed if the skillet starts to get over-heated.
While the onion cooks, remove the core and chop each apple into little cubes.
Add the apples and 1 Tb butter to the skillet with the onion. Saute for 7 minutes over medium heat.
Meanwhile, chop the kielbasa sausage. Mince the fresh rosemary.
Add the kielbasa and rosemary to the skillet. Saute over medium-high heat for 6 minutes. Stir in 1 Tb sucanat, and turn off heat.
Shred half of the cheese. Chop the remaining half of the cheese into little cubes.
Prepare the cooked squash:
Once the acorn squash has cooled enough to handle it, use a spoon to scoop out the flesh from the rinds. Be careful not to destroy the rinds.
Chop the squash into bite-sized bits. I found it was very easy to do this by placing the cooked squash in a large bowl and then just chopping it up with kitchen shears right in the bowl.
Stir in plenty of salt to season the squash.
Finish the stuffing and broil it all:
Preheat the oven to broil.
Fold the chopped acorn squash into the still-hot sausage mixture. Taste and adjust the salt level as needed.
Fold in the cheddar cubes. Then use a large spoon to distribute the stuffing into the acorn squash rinds.
Top each squash with a sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese.
Broil for 3-5 minutes, just until the cheese has melted and browned.
Remove from the oven and serve!
What are your favorite winter squash recipes?
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