On Sunday, we made dinner for a friend. She’s a vegetarian, and we wanted to make something hearty, filling and nutritious. After searching for a few stuffed squash recipes, and hitting up the grocery store, I picked up a butternut squash. Originally I wanted a acorn squash, but most of the stores were wiped out from Thanksgiving.

We chose ingredients that were healthy and worked well together. This recipe is naturally vegan and Gluten free. There is an option to top the squash with poached eggs, if you want a little more protein.

This recipe is a little more work than my usual fare, but it’s really tasty and makes A LOT.  To save time I used one of the bags of Mirepoix (pronounced meer pwah)I had prepped and froze last week. If you don’t do prep cooking, check your local grocery store freezer case for frozen mirepoix.

I get all of my spices from Penzey’s. They have 67 stores across the country, and you can order from their website too. They frequently have coupon codes for free samples or shipping when you place an order- It’s worth a google search!

You can serve this as a main dish or a side.

Stuffed Squash

Ingredients:

• 1 large butternut squash
• 1 T. Olive Oil
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 T. Butter
• 2 small Granny Smith Apples, cored and chopped
• 1 cup carrots, diced
• 1 cup celery, diced
• 2 cups onion, diced (I used a sweet onion)
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (15 ounce can approx.)
• 1 ounce pouch of Juicy Gems dried pomegranate arils
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 tsp. French Tarragon
• 1 tsp. Rubbed Sage
• 1 tsp. French Thyme
• 1 Bay Leaf
• 1 T. Air Dried Shallots

 

Directions:

1. Cut Squash in half, remove seeds/membrane. Brush with oil, salt and pepper.
2. Bake at 425 for 30-45 minutes, until squash is fork tender.
3. While squash is cooking, In a large pan, melt butter, and saute fruit, veggies, and spices/herbs. Cook over low heat for about 20-30 minutes. Add garbanzo beans, arils, and broth. Cook for another 20-30 minutes or so, or until broth is mostly absorbed and garbanzos are tender.
4. As the stuffing cooks, once the squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out about 1/3 of the squash. You want to create a cavity for the stuffing. Set the “guts”  aside- You can chop it up and add it to the stuffing, or serve it on the side (I just ate it with butter while the stuffed squash cooked).
5. Place the squash halves on a baking sheet, and fill the cavities with the veggie stuffing. Top with more salt and pepper, as needed.
6. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Serves 4 as a main dish, 6-8 as a side dish. For added protein when served as a main dish, top each portion with a poached egg. Not sure how to poach an egg? Alton Brown has a great tutorial here. 

 

Talk Back: What is your go-to Vegetarian dish?