Stuffed Acorn Squash Boats

STUFFED ACORN SQUASH BOATS

This holiday season, or for Fall in general, this is the perfect meal, side dish, or table food that isn’t turkey. Italian sausage is one of my favorite things in general, especially the sweet kind. That fennel is just too good to pass up. I go for it every chance I get.

Don’t let the sausage throw you off. If you want to used ground turkey you can, or even real turkey slices. These stuffed boats only bake for 5 minutes all together, so no harm in that. But for this particular recipe, the sweet italian sausage at Heinen’s is fantastic. And they sell it ground, not in sausage links, so it’s that much easier. It’s super fresh, and no fuss I might add.

Heinen’s has a 24 month aged parmigiano reggiano cheese that is the perfect topper for these boats.

To be more in line with the Fall season and tablescapes, I used sage, pepitas, apples with figs thrown in for a bite of sweetness. Acorn squash is the perfect base to shake things up. I find that the meat of the squash is spicier and heartier than other squash. It’s like the arugula of squash.

Since we’re a family of just 2, I halved the recipe for us.

Ingredients

Acorn Squash Ingredients

• 2 acorn squash seeds scooped out and cut in quarters

• generous olive oil poured over each squash quarter

• 1 tsp brown sugar per boat (about 8 tsp)

• tsp rosemary sage and thyme (dried or fresh...about 1-2each)

• Salt & pepper to taste

Stuffing Ingredients

• italian sausage sausage see below

• 2 shallots diced

• 2 Portobello mushrooms diced

• 1 cup Button mushrooms diced

• 1 package of Heinen’s cooked ancient grains, 1 cooked quinoa

• 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

• 1 tbsp Heinen’s sage

• 1 tsp fresh chopped thyme

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tsp pepper

Sweet Italian Sausage Ingredients

• 1 lb ground italian sausage

• 2 tsp Heinen’s ground mustard

• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

• 2 cloves minced garlic

• 2 tsp Heinen’s ground sage

• 2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp pepper

• 1/2 tsp red pepper

Topping Ingredients

• 1 cup microgreens to top each boat

• MORE parmesan to coat top of each boat If desired

• pepitas to sprinkle

Instructions

Set oven to 400°F.

Drizzle olive oil over each boat. Sprinkle the squash prep ingredients of brown sugar, spices and herbs.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes, checking at 15.

While the squash is baking, in a cast iron skillet. Sauté the shallots until tender, then add the sausage. Add in the rest of the sausage ingredients, except for the parmesan cheese, AND the mushrooms and cook through, for about 8 minutes on medium.

In a large bowl, add the sausage mixture, and then add in the cooked grains.

Scoop into each boat, and cover with the parmesean cheese.

Place in oven for 5 minutes at same 400°F.

Remove from oven, sprinkle the microgreens and pepitas.

You can also have fresh figs on the side.