Stuffed Butternut Squash
This simple vegan stuffed butternut squash is a completely delicious meatless option.
Author My Goodness Kitchen
Equipment
- skillet
Ingredients
- 1 – 2 medium butternut squash pumpkin
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 brown (yellow) onion finely chopped, you could also use 2-3 French Shallots
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme leaves removed and chopped
- 80 grams cooked chestnuts I use the vacuum sealed variety, roughly chopped, around a half cup (AUS) measured before chopping
- 120 grams cooked quinoa a scant cup (AUS)
- 400 grams cooked brown lentils drained and rinsed if suing using
- 20 grams dried cherries or cranberries roughly 2 tablespoons
- a pinch of nutmeg to taste
- 30 grams vegan butter around 2 tablespoon (AUS)
- 50 grams baby spinach 2 good handfuls
- a good pinch of sea salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees C. To prepare the squash, lay each on its side and carefully cut 1½ inch thick slices. Using a small cookie cutter, cut a circle in the centre of each round to create a ring. It may take some grunt to push the cutter through and the rings may break; no matter. Discard any seeds and cut the inside rounds in to cubes. NB: If you don’t have a cookie cutter, you can use a scoop to scoop out the flesh and simply chop the ends of the squash that you don’t use into cubes.
- Place the squash rounds in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Season with sea salt and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet or fry pan and add the garlic, onion and fresh thyme leaves. Sweat them for around 7-minutes or until soft.
- Add the chestnuts, cherries, squash cubes and the butter and cook until the butter is melted before adding a pinch of nutmeg. Stir well.
- Finally, add the cooked quinoa and the drained lentils and continue to cook for another five minutes before stirring in the baby spinach. Season with sea salt to taste and a good crack of black pepper and when the spinach has wilted remove the stuffing from the heat.
- Keeping the oven on, take the partially cooked squash rings from the oven and place them on your kitchen counter. Carefully, fill each ring with a good amount of stuffing, drizzle each with a small amount of olive oil before placing them back in the oven for a further 20 – 30 minutes or until the squash is cooked through.
- Remove from the oven and serve with a vegan gravy and sides.
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Notes
Q. What is the difference between sautéing and sweating vegetables?
A. Sweating vegetables is a technique that uses a gentle heat to soften vegetables and gently draw out their flavour. The idea to not caramelise, but instead to allow the mellow flavours to mingle with the rest of the dish without overpowering it. Sautéing is done at a higher heat with less oil and the finished result is often browned or slightly caramelised vegetables