Acorn Squash Stuffed with Carrots and Rutabaga (B-)
I got acorn squash this week from my CSA. I like them stuffed, but I never know what to stuff them with. So I went scouring for recipes. This one is actually called Suzie Pryor’s “Perfectly Delicious” Stuffed Acorn Squash, from the cookbook Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon. When I saw the rutabaga in the ingredient list I had to make it, as I had a rutabaga languishing in the fridge, and just the one rutabaga recipe in my repetoire.
- 4 small-to-medium or 2 medium-large acorn squash, prepared for stuffing
- 2carrots, chopped
- 1.5-2 cups chopped rutabaga
- 1 Tbs. butter
- 1 Tbs. brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- a few gratings of nutmeg
- 1 cup peeled, finely diced apple
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Slice a 1/2 inch top hat from the stem end of each squash. If the bottom of the squash is not flat, remove a very thin slice so the squash can stand upright. Scoop the inner seeds and stringy pulp from the cavity.
- Spray a 13-by-9 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- Place the squash, cut side down, in the prepared baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and check if the squash are tender. If not, turn the squash right side up, re-cover, and bake for another 20 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and carefully scoop out most of the squash flesh, keeping the outer shell intact. Place the flesh in a mixing bowl. Setboth the squash halves and the flesh aside. Do not turn the oven off.
- As the squash cook, bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the carrots and turnips. Simmer until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain (reserve the water for use in stock, if desired). Add the vegetables to the bowl with the squash flesh.
- Using an electric mixer, whip the three cooked vegetables together with the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to taste. Stir in the apples. Divide the stuffing equally among the squash shells. Return the stuffed shells to the baking dish.
- Bake, uncovered, until heated through, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve hot.
My notes
When I poured out the carrots and rutabaga they smelled an awful lot like turnips. I snagged one of the rutabaga pieces to taste it, and thankfully it didn’t taste like a turnip. It was more sweet and yellow tasting. The idea of using a handheld mixer to combine the vegetables into an almost smooth mash is interesting. However, the turnips and carrots weren’t cooked quite enough for this to happen. They stayed rather lumpy. I’m not sure my squash was cooked even after 50 minutes; maybe I didn’t have my tin foil sealed well enough? The final mixture wasn’t bad. The addition of the carrots was nice, but it was still a bit turnipy perhaps. Plus it needed more cinnamon and a little more butter I think. The results weren’t worth the rather complicated recipe, unfortunately. I’m still looking for a good, healthy, stuffed acorn squash recipe. Any suggestions?
Rating: B-
The captious vegetarian 