Stuffed Baked Squash

This recipe is for two very hungry people or four people if you have other side dishes. Depending on what kind of squash you get and your personal taste, you might want to give them 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven before stuffing them to make sure the squash are completely cooked through.

SQUASH:
1 round winter squash. My favorite is buttercup, but kabocha, ambercup, acorn, or carnival squash will also work.
Olive oil
Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet, roasting pan, baking dish or whatever with aluminum foil and spray it with a shot of cooking spray. Cut the squash in half so that the halves will rest flat. Scoop out the pulp and the seeds, making sure to get all the strings out. Set the squash cut sides up on the pan and brush the insides with olive oil then sprinkle with salt. If you want, par-cook the squash for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile...

STUFFING:
Handful of walnuts, chopped
Olive oil
1 largish apple, peeled, cored, and coarse diced
1 celery rib, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T minced fresh ginger
1 t dried oregano (or to taste)
1 t dried thyme (or to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 dried cranberries
Cornbread stuffing cubes (Note: Get the kind that is just dried cornbread cubes (such as Brownberry) and not the kind that is preseasoned (such as Stove Top) or else your stuffing will taste like prefab boxed spice mixture. Gross.)
Vegetable or chicken stock

In a large frying pan, toast the walnuts until you can just start to smell them, then set aside.

In the same pan, heat the olive oil. Add the apple through the onion and cook until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic through the cranberries and cook for, oh, about four minutes or so. Return the walnuts and add enough of the stuffing mix so that there's about as much stuffing mix as there is everything else - you want a 1 to 1 corn bread cubes to all other ingredients ratio. Stir to coat the cornbread cubes with all the seasonings in the pan.

Add stock about a quarter cup at a time, stirring so the cornbread absorbs the stock, until the stuffing is wet enough to just stick together.

STUFFED SQUASH:
Divide the stuffing between the squash halves and pack it in there. It should be mounded up above the lip of the squash. If you have stuffing left over, you can bake it in a separate dish or freeze it until the next time you're ready to stuff something. If you par-cooked the squash, roast the stuffed squash at 400 for about 40 minutes. If you didn't, cook the whole shebang for 50 minutes, checking occasionally after 40 minutes to make sure the stuffing isn't burning.

- jenny