Cranberry + Maple Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash
Servings
4
Serve with a salad of fall greens or a slice of crusty bread! Each Stuffed Squash easily feeds 2. This dish is a festive alternative holiday meal! It’s a gentle nod to the flavors we all eat this time of the year but with a little twist! It can be easily doubled to feed 8 - Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 8oz Maple Sausage (see our Maple Sausage and Kale Soup recipe)
- ¼ cup dried Cranberries, cut into small pieces
- 1 large Shallot, diced
- 1 Acorn Squash, washed, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed
- 1 cup Ricotta Cheese
- 15 fresh Sage leaves
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- Zest of 1 large Lemon
- Salt and Pepper
- Olive Oil
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375º.
- Place acorn squash in a large baking dish, cut side up.
- Very lightly oil and season with Salt.
- Bake for 20-30 mins or until the flesh of the squash is tender.
- Wash the sage leaves and pat them dry.
- In a small skillet, over low heat, heat the butter until it just begins to bubble. Add sage leaves. Carefully swirl the pan and fry the sage until the leaves just begin to crisp.
- Remove sage and drain on a paper towel.
- Add the shallot to the (now sage flavored) butter and sauté until soft and translucent.
- Remove the pan from the heat.
- Add the maple sausage (reserve a small amount of sausage to sprinkle on top before baking), cranberries, lemon zest and ricotta.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Stir to combine.
- Crumble half of the fried sage leaves into the filling, reserving the other half to garnish.
- Remove squash from the oven.
- Carefully, fill the cavity of each squash equally with the filling mixture.
- Season with freshly cracked black pepper and return to the oven for 25 mins or until the squash is beginning to brown and the filling is gooey.
- Garnish with remaining fried sage and a few cranberries!
- Serve with a salad of fall greens or a slice of crusty bread!