Stuffed Squash

Well the twice simmered stew of last night was amazing. I truly believe that stew is always best served the day after it is originally made. With lashings of gravy left over in the fridge for tomorrow nights steak pie.

Following on from yesterdays winter warming stew here’s another one of our favourite wintertime meals. Great after a cold day outside. This meal can be made with any squash variety, we like butternut and also any mince variety for the filling. We are eating most of our mince based meals with Quorn mince lately as a healthier alternative to minced steak. Turkey, pork or steak mince all work equally as well though.

For this meal you will need one squash per person, an onion finely chopped, mince of your choice, mushrooms finely chopped, cherry tomatoes halved, tomato puree, grated cheese and your choice of salad to serve. We usually also eat this with garlic bread.

So to start, preheat the oven to 200 degrees, scoop out the innards of your squash leaving a 1.5cm rim, keep the innards for the filling. Brush your scooped out squash with olive oil and bake for 30 minutes or until starting to brown.

Next add a little oil to a frying pan and brown your finely chopped onion, next if cooking with meat based mince add your mince and simmer until cooked through, (if using quorn mince it can go in later) once your mince is cooked through and browned add the squash innards, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and tomato puree. You may find a little water helps to loosen the mix slightly. Simmer the mix until the squash is bake in the oven.

Once the squash has started to brown remove from the oven and add the mince mixture to the hollowed out squash. Bake for a further 10 minutes before adding the grated cheese to the top and baking for just 10 minutes further.

When the cheese is nicely bubbling and browning, remove from the oven and serve hot with your choice of salad and garlic bread.

Another warming winter dish that is easy to prepare and bound to please any hungry guests. The filling can be premade in large quantities and frozen into smaller portions. The basic filling can then be used for Spag bol, chilli, stuffed peppers and squashes, lasagne and many more easy dishes quickly and easily.

All this talk of food is making me hungry now......