Stuffed Acorn Squash

Happy Fall Ya’ll! We may not have the fall weather here in Florida but we can create those delicious fall flavors! 

Acorn squash gets roasted to perfection and tossed with chicken sausage, kale, cranberries, pecans and melty goat cheese for the perfect salty and sweet combo.

Ingredients

Acorn squash

• 2 acorn squash medium
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon salt or more
• black pepper freshly ground

Squash filling

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion small, diced
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 pint mushrooms, chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
• 10 oz chicken sausage, crumbled
• 4 oz kale, chopped 
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• ½ cup pecans, chopped
• 4 oz goat cheese 

Instructions 

Roast acorn squash

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Cut off the top and the bottom of each acorn squash to create a flat base. Make sure not to cut too deep into the base of the squash. 

Slice each squash in half. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and fleshy strands tangled with the seeds.

Place acorn squash cut sides up on a baking sheet. 

Drizzle the cut sides of acorn squashes with olive oil and rub the oil into the squash. Season generously with salt and pepper. 

Turn the squash over, and place it cut sides down on a baking sheet.

Roast in the preheated oven at 400 F for 30 minutes.

Make squash filling

Make the sausage filling while the squash is being roasted in the oven.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil, add diced onion and garlic, and cook it on medium-high heat for about 2 minutes until cooked and a bit charred.

Add the chopped mushrooms, and saute until soft. 

Add crumbled sausage and rosemary, cook on medium heat until the sausage is completely cooked through.

Add fresh kale and cook for another 5 minutes on medium heat until the kale wilts.

Add dried cranberries and chopped pecans and mix everything.

Season with salt and pepper. 

How to stuff acorn squash

By this time, you have roasted the acorn squash for 30 minutes. Remove them from the oven and turn cooked squash halves cut sides up.

Divide the sausage filling among the 4 halves and stuff the squash until the mixture is leveled or a little bit higher. Sprinkle each half with goat cheese. 

Bake the stuffed acorn squash in the preheated oven at 350 F for 10 or 20 more minutes until the sausage mixture is heated through.

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Truffle Salisbury Steak

Tender seasoned beef patties smothered in mushrooms & shallots baked in a rich a decadent gravy.

Salisbury steak is the ultimate comfort food. Here’s a twist on an oldie… In this recipe I made some slight changes to dress it up!

The patties are made with lean beef because it has a lot of flavor but it’s not overly greasy. The meat is mixed with truffle oil, barbeque sauce, Worcestershire sauce, cheese and seasonings, then formed into oval shaped “steaks”.

The patties are cooked to golden brown, and then a simple gravy is made with shallots, mushrooms, beef broth and a little flour which is used as a thickener.

The end result is tender flavorful patties that are just smothered in rich gravy. 

You can serve them over mashed potatoes or my favorite wild rice. 

INGREDIENTS 

Meat Mixture:

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 tablespoon barbecue sauce 
• 4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ cup shredded Italian blend cheese
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder 
• ½ teaspoon dried parsley 
• 1 egg
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon truffle oil or olive oil

Gravy:

• 4 shallots, thinly slices 
• 1 pint sliced mushrooms 
• 2 cups beef broth, more if needed for thinning
• 1 teaspoon truffle oil, if using
• 1 tablespoon barbecue 
• 4 dashes Worcestershire
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme 
• 2 tablespoon flour, add more if needed
• Salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

For the meat mixture: 

Combine all the ingredients. Knead until all combined. Form into 4 to 6 oval patties.

Fry the patties in a skillet with the butter and oil over medium-high heat on both sides until no longer pink in the middle. Remove from the skillet and pour off any excess grease.

For the gravy: 

Reduce the heat to medium and add in the mushrooms. Cook for 2 minutes then add in the sliced shallots. Stir and cook until golden brown and somewhat soft, for several minutes. Add the beef stock, truffle oil, barbecue, and Worcestershire. Sprinkle in the dried herbs and combine. 

Make a well in the middle of the pan and add the flour. Whisk until combined. 

Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper and more broth if needed for thinning. Then return the patties to the gravy. Spoon the gravy over the top and let them simmer and heat back up for a couple of minutes.

Serve over wild rice, white rice or mashed potatoes.