Winter squash is in season!!! I love winter squash: butternut, acorn, delicata, sugar pumpkin, spaghetti squash. I haven’t tried them all yet: buttercup, blue hubbard, kabocha, and others have not made it into my kitchen.
Cut and roast them, turn them into soup, use them as nutritious filler in other recipes…I just love them!
The idea for this stuffed squash came to me as I pulled up to the local farm stand today.
Ingredients:
4 delicata squash
1 large sweet onion, chopped
2 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
20oz Whole30 compliant bacon (uncured, nitrate free, no sugar added; I used Pederson’s)
12oz Aidells chicken apple sausage (no sugar added, no nitrates, Whole30 compliant)
1 pound mashed sugar pumpkin (fresh or packaged)
15 sage leaves, chiffonade
leaves from 3 sprigs thyme
Kosher salt
Pepper
Olive oil/ghee
Method:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Slice delicata squash in half lengthwise. Brush the cut side with olive oil (I used extra virgin) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place cut side up on baking sheets and bake at 37°5 for 30 minutes.
Chop bacon and cook in a skillet over medium heat to desired crispness. Move to paper towels to drain. Reserve some bacon fat in the skillet. Add the chicken apple sausage to the skilled and cook through, move to paper towels to drain excess bacon fat.
In a large sauté pan heat 1 tbl. ghee and 1 tbl. olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and sauté. Once onion begins to soften add apples. Add garlic and sauté until onion and apples are soft. Mix sage, thyme leaves, and pumpkin. Add bacon and sausage to mixture and season with salt and pepper.
Scoop seeds from squash and discard. Stuff each squash with the onion, apple, and meat mixture. Bake at 375°F for an additional 15 minutes.