If you are looking for a fancy recipe to serve your guests over the holidays then this festive stuffed butternut squash might just be what you’ve been looking for. An impressive centre piece, it’s full of whole plant food goodness and perfect for meeting a mix of dietary needs.
These delicious stuffed squash is:
- gluten free
- fully plant-based
- stuffed with gut loving wholefoods
- beautiful with it’s rainbow colours
- can be nut free
- super tasty
- really filling
You may have looked at the photo above and thought ‘that’s way to complicated, it’s going to take too much time’. Whilst I agree it does have a long list of ingredients, it’s actually surprisingly easy to make. And whilst it has a longer than normal overall cooking time, it can be prepared in sections so you don’t have to do it all at once (unless you want to of course). Which means you have more time to spend celebrating with your guests.
The festive mix can be used as a filling for other recipes. It can be stuffed into other vegetables, wrapped in pastry and baked or even pressed into a mould and baked on it’s own. If you are not stuffing a squash, add some to the mix. Or sweet potato. Both will work, and you’ll make sure you have some extra orange colour added in.
Orange coloured veggies like squash, sweet potato and carrot are packed full of betacarotenes and polyphenols, tiny micronutrients that the gut microbiome love and supports the body too. Betacarotene is the plant precursor to vitamin A.
Essential for healthy skin, nails and eyes, vitamin A also helps support the immune system and cellular processes. And polyphenols have strong antioxidant properties, which means they help to stabilise rogue hydrogen atoms in the cell that are intent on causing mischief.
Even though it’s the holiday season, your health still needs supporting, especially if you are using food as medicine – sadly long term health conditions don’t take a break for Christmas! But with recipes like this festive stuffed butternut squash means you don’t have to sacrifice enjoyment for health as it’s packed full of seasonal flavours and very satisfying.
This recipe can be split into three sections.
- Roast the butternut squash. Even though the skin is thin, the flesh is dense and needs to be cooked before it’s stuffed. This is also a good time to cook the red rice and lentils. They can be cooled and stored in the fridge if you are not making the mix straight away. Alternatively cook them just whilst you…..
- Create the mix. Once you have prepared the veggies, you’re almost nearly done! A food processor might help you save time chopping. Once the mix is cooked, cool it slightly before stuffing the squash. This can then be stored in the fridge for cooking later or….
- Roast the stuffed squash. This will take 30 minutes or so until everything is piping hot, giving you time to finish off cooking your other favourite festive veggies and accompaniments.
I add some deliciously rich pecan nuts to the mix; if you are nut free then use pumpkin seeds instead. And if you’re not too good with lentils and don’t want to spend the afternoon trumping in the background, leave them out and double up the amount of red rice. Or use a mix of wholegrain or wild rice instead. Variety is the spice of life for your gut microbes!
To ensure the filling and the squash ‘wrapping’ stays in place, you’ll need to secure it with some twine or food grade string. Tying it up isn’t difficult and adds to the overall presentation on serving. Just don’t use coloured string or you might end up with a Bridget Jones style colour disaster 😉
We loved this festive stuffed butternut squash; I hope you do. If you make it, don’t forget to let me know how you get on.
Festive stuffed butternut squash
Ingredients
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 180℃. Wash the skin of the butternut squash to remove any mud.
- Cut the squash in half length ways and remove the seeds and any stringy bits.
- Place the squash halves on a lightly greased baking tray cut side down. Stab the skin with a sharp knife a few times then place in the oven for 30 minutes. Turn the halves over half way through to allow the other side to cook.
- Squeeze the squash to check its cooked - it should be pliable but not soft and soggy. If it's still a bit hard, return to the oven for another 5 minutes or so.
- Remove from the oven. If you are stuffing the squash now, leave to cool for a few minutes. If you are stuffing the squash later, leave to cool completely then wrap in foil and store in the fridge.
- Drain the red rice then pop in a pan, cover with fresh water and simmer until al dente (approx 30 minutes).
- Drain the lentils then pop in a pan with a bay leaf, cover with fresh water and simmer until just soft (don't let them go mushy) - approx 25 minutes. See note below re: precooked lentils.
- Prepare the vegetables as detailed above. If you have roasted a butternut squash, carefully scoop out cooked flesh from the neck of the squash, ensuring you leave a good 2-3 cm margin to keep structural integrity. You need to do this to make space for the filling. Finely chop the removed squash and put to one side.
- Whilst the rice and lentils are cooking, heat a couple of tablespoons of water in the base of a large non-stick pan. Add the red onion, carrot, celery and red pepper along with the bay leaf and saute on a medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Add the courgette to the pan and continue to saute for another 3 minutes, adding more water to prevent sticking if needed.
- Add the chopped kale or chard and grated garlic plus the removed roasted squash flesh. Stir well to combine. Continue to cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add the tamari or marmite water, cranberries, herbs and spices. Simmer for a few more minutes until everything is soft then turn off the heat.
- By now the rice and lentils should be ready. Drain any leftover water in the pans. Add the rice and lentils to the mix along with chopped pecans or pumpkin seeds. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir well to combine and taste to check the flavour. Add more herbs, spice or seasoning as needed. Remove the bay leaf.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180℃. Place the string in water to soak.
- Line both halves of the squash next to each other on a chopping board cut side up. Fill the cavity with festive mix, pressing it in to ensure it's well filled. Very carefully pick up one filled half and place on top of the other. Take the string out of the water and shake off any excess. Wrap the string around the squash like a parcel and tie a knot to secure - trim off any excess string/twine.
- Pop sprigs of fresh rosemary into the skin of the squash, place on a baking tray and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until everything is piping hot.
- To serve, cut the string and serve in slices with accompanying veggies of choice.
Notes
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