Sausage Stuffing Filled Acorn Squash

We brought along the perfect autumn lunch.

It was about 4:00, a little late for a mid-day meal, but it was the first moment of the day that the four of us stopped what we were doing to convene in the kitchen and fill our ravenous stomachs with something more than the cold coffee and bits of everything-bagels left over from Chelsea’s early morning breakfast run.

Dom and I spent this past weekend helping Lauren and Chels get fully settled in their new digs. For them, living in the North End will undoubtedly mean lotsa-pasta, fried garlic, massive meatballs and mouth-watering aromas wafting through their newly dressed windows, however, on this autumn afternoon, we were all about the sausage, stuffing, squash and savory aromas that accompanied our amber-colored offering.

The last time I remember enjoying this dish, I was a very young girl. The details of that evening have blurred with the passage of time, however, the flavors of the dish are as emblazoned in my memory as the names of the folks we shared it with…Vicky, John, Diana, and Suzanna. This was a family of friends who were “family”. The two girls, Diana and Suzanna, were sweet little friends of my sister and me, as the four of us spent many precious, crazy times together.

And with as many times as we broke bread together, it is this dish that I recall the most. Sausage Stuffing Filled Acorn Squash.

I don’t know, maybe because it was the first acorn squash I’d ever eaten, or the perfection of the spicy sausage with the sweetness of the gourd, either way – it was a dish I’ve been wanting to duplicate for many, many, many years.

Though this recipe is multi-stepped, it is simple and worth the time to pull it together.

Food is memories. And now I get to attach a new memory for this dish with the original…

We shared this meal this weekend with our girls, on the small drop-leaf kitchen table that graced our first kitchen together…

Pretty neat…

Buon Appetito!

Sausage Stuffing Filled Acorn Squash

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• Author: Ciao Chow Bambina
• Category: Dinner

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Ingredients

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• 12 oz. pork breakfast sausage links
• 4 Tbsp. butter
• 1 cup diced yellow onion
• 3/4 cup diced celery
• 14 oz. pkg. herb-seasoned stuffing
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 2 acorn squash cut in half

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Instructions

1. In a large frying pan, cook sausage all the way through over medium heat while breaking apart with a fork.
2. When sausage is fully cooked, remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
3. In same pan, add butter, onion and celery.
4. Cook until just soft and translucent.
5. Add herb-seasoned stuffing, chicken broth, cooked sausage and nutmeg.
6. Stir until fully combined, remove from heat and set aside.
7. In the meantime, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
8. Position shelf in lower 1/3 of the oven.
9. Prepare a baking sheet with a piece of parchment.
10. Take the four squash halves and rub the flesh side with olive oil.
11. Place each half upside down on the parchment paper and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until fork tender and caramelized.
12. Remove from the oven.
13. Divide the stuffing and fill each squash.
14. Place back in the oven for approximately 10 minutes until stuffing is heated through.
15. Serve.

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