If we like our birds stuffed, we will like our squash stuffed as well.

Why not use wild rice and chestnuts for this idea? It’s easy to make it a savory and delicious main course.

Kabocha Squash Stuffed with Wild Rice & Chestnuts (serves two):

Ingredients:

1 kabocha squash (or acorn, or butternut if you can’t find kabocha. Get a small sqaush if only for one and decrease rice to 1/2 cup)
1 cup Lundberg wild rice blend
2 cups salted water
2 shallots, chopped finely
3 leaves of fresh sage, chopped fine
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 lb of Italian chestnuts, scored, roasted and peeled or 1 can of natural chestnuts packed in water (chopped roughly)

Instructions:

Add one cup of rice to boiling, salted water. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes.

Heat a skillet with three tablespoons of olive oil and sauté chopped shallots, sage and chestnuts, stirring occasionally until shallots are transparent.

Add cooked rice and sauté a few minutes more.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut the top 3/4 of the squash off carefully with a cleaver or heavy, sharp knife. De-seed. Rub with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Add savory rice mixture, place the squash top back on lightly and let it bake for up to one hour, until the squash is soft to the tip of a toothpick.

Present the whole squash to your guest on a sweet plate.

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~ Join Peggy on one of her Culinary Adventures on the Amalfi coast. ~

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Author: Peggy Markel

Image: John Silliman/Unsplash

Editor: Katarina Tavčar