Sausage and Apple Stuffed Squash

Baking has historically gone better for me than cooking. So when I attempted the first meal from my Grammy's recipes I was quite nervous.

This is what you will need for this meal:
2 medium acorn squashes
Salt
Water
1 pound of sausage meat (the recipe said pork, but I used turkey)
2 large tart apples, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup of fine dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons of packed brown sugar
1/2 a teaspoon of salt
1/8 a teaspoon of pepper

First, halve the squashes lengthwise and scrape out the seeds and stringy pulp. In a deep large skillet bring 1/2 inch of lightly salted water to a boil and then add the squashes cut side down. Cover and steam for about 20 minutes or until almost tender. This was new to me - I had cooked acorn squash before in the oven with butter and brown sugar, but never prepared them first in the skillet. It worked great but the water actually evaporated before the 20 minutes was up and it started to smell like the squashes may have started to burn a little. Luckily that wasn't the case. I put them cut side up in the baking dish like the recipe said.


My apples and monkey peeler.

In the same skillet, over medium heat, cook the sausage and break it up with a spoon (I used a spatula, it seemed to work better) until brown. Drain off all but one tablespoon of fat, then stir in apples, bread crumbs, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and two tablespoons of water or enough to moisten the mixture slightly (I had to add about 4-5 tablespoons). Pack the mixture into the squash cavities (sounds gross).


The recipe says that some of the mixture will fall into the baking dish, which was a huge understatement. I think I had used slightly more sausage than it had called for, and so I probably had enough mixture for another entire squash. But I just ended up serving the extra filling with the stuffed squashes which was just fine.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30 minutes or until apples and squashes are tender. After 30 minutes I tasted one of the apple pieces to see if it was soft, and I was a little concerned because I think I had a particularly salty piece and the taste was a little off. But good news - when we tasted the final product, it was absolutely delicious.


I had some guests over to share this dinner with me, and this was the aftermath:


Looks like everyone enjoyed it!

Next week - butterscotch bread pudding!