Twice-baked butternut squash with walnut and dried fruit stuffing
Prep time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Cook time: 2 1/2 hours
Makes 10 servings
This recipe from Georgeanne Brennan's "Gather: Memorable Menus for Entertaining Throughout the Seasons" makes a great main dish for a vegetarian Thanksgiving or any fall meal. Look for the smallest butternut squash you can find, so you can serve a half squash to each person. If you can find only large ones, cut them into quarters.
Note: The prep time does not include the 1-hour cool time after squash is baked.
INGREDIENTS
5 small butternut squashes (about 1 pound each)
5 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cups minced onions
6 ribs minced celery (about 1 1/2 cups)
4 tablespoons minced fresh sage
1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
8 to 10 large slices pain au levain or other coarse-crumbed bread, crusts removed, torn or cut into small pieces
8 dried peach halves, finely chopped
12 prunes, finely chopped
8 dried pears, finely chopped
1 1/4 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/2 to 2 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse sea salt or kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
Bake squashes on baking sheet at 350 degrees until they offer little resistance when pierced with toothpick, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on size. Remove and let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. (They can be baked the day before and left at room temperature, covered.)
Carefully cut cooled squashes in half lengthwise. With a metal spoon, scrape out the strings and seeds and discard. Scrape out the pulp, which will still offer little resistance, to within 1/2 inch of shell. Chop or mash pulp and set aside.
Melt butter in frying pan over medium-high heat. When it foams, add onions and celery and sauté until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add sage, parsley, bread, peaches, prunes, pears, walnuts, squash pulp, broth, salt and pepper.
Reduce heat to low and simmer to make a moist mixture, about 5 minutes. If the stuffing seems too dry, add a bit more broth. Taste and add more salt and pepper is desired.
Fill squash cavities with stuffing, mounding it generously. Cover each squash separately with aluminum foil, pressing it to fit snugly. Bake squash again on baking sheet at 350 degrees until the meat of the squash shell is tender when pierced with a fork, about 1 hour. Remove from foil and serve hot.
Per serving: 425 cal.; 9 g pro.; 70 g carb.; 16 g fat (5 sat., 4 monounsat., 7 polyunsat.); 15 mg chol.; 645 mg sod.; 12 g fiber; 31 g sugar; 31 percent calories from fat.
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