Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash

What I've found interesting about squash is that there isn't a lot of variety in the way people cook it.  Acorn squash, for example, most people stuff of slice.  Why is it that I was looking for an acorn squash recipe that was outside the box and I couldn't find one?  Well, I'm not sure, but I settled on stuffing them since it's a technique I had never tried before.  I looked at a few different recipes and used a combination of stuffing ingredients.  The result: a delicious flavor bomb of stuffing packed inside a tasty squash bowl.

What I found was the most interesting part of these stuffed squash recipes is that you don't really cook the stuffing in the squash.  You bake the squash while cooking the stuffing separately & then finish it off by broiling the stuffed squash.  I guess I don't cook my Thanksgiving stuffing inside the turkey either, so "stuffing" is kind of a relative term.  Anyways, this recipe turned out sweet, savory, herbaceous & creamy from the touch of goat cheese I added.  All in all, a very fall recipe with classic flavors.

Total Time: 35-40 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

3 medium acorn squash

4 cups cauliflower rice

1 cup fresh or frozen peas

1 lb sweet Italian sausage, de-cased

3 tbs fresh sage, chopped

3 tbs fresh rosemary, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups crimini mushrooms, finely chopped

6 oz goat cheese

Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.  
2. Slice squash in half and scoop out the seeds.  Generously oil and salt the inside of the squash and place skin side up on baking trays.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, until it feels tender to the touch.
3. While the squash is baking, make your stuffing.  Add your sausage to a large pan over medium heat and cook until browned, about 5-7 minutes while breaking up along the way.  
4. Once the sausage is browned, add in garlic, mushrooms sage rosemary and peas and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add in cauliflower rice and cook an additional 3-4 minutes, until all ingredients are cooked through.  
5. Crumble goat cheese and mix into the stuffing mixture.  Salt and pepper to taste.  
6. Remove the squash from the oven and fill the center of each piece with stuffing.  Set your oven to broil and broil for 4-5 minutes, until the top of the stuffing & squash are lightly browned.