Fun Fall Food

By Palma Hansen –

This baked stuffed squash is fun to make, serve and eat! It is a wonderful fall side dish and a conversation piece for a dinner party. You can use any medium-sized squash that is in season. A kabocha squash is great for 6-8 servings, but I used a red kuri squash that was perfect for 4-6.

The red kuri squash is a dark orange teardrop shaped squash, similar inside to a pumpkin, but its taste is smooth and more like a butternut squash. Delicious! For a larger squash, double my recipe.

• First, cut off a lid, like you would for a jack-o-lantern. Hollow out the seeds and stringy stuff. Salt the inside of the squash.
• Heat oven to 450, with rack in lower third of oven. Toast slices of French bread baguette for about 7 minutes. I needed 9 baguette slices. Reduce oven temperature to 400.
• Whisk together 1 cup of heavy cream, 1 cup chicken broth, and 1/2 t. nutmeg.
• Grate 5 oz. gruyere and 5 oz. emmental cheese and combine. Other soft melty cheeses will also work. I used gruyere and Italian fontina.
• Line a baking pan with foil. Put squash in the pan. Place a layer of toasted bread in bottom of squash. Add 1/3 of your grated cheese. Pour about a third of cream-broth mixture. Repeat with two more layers to end up about 1/2″ from the top of the squash.
• Cover squash with its lid, and brush all over with olive oil. Bake for 1-1 1/2 hours until squash is tender.
• When you take off the lid, you will have a delicious “bowl” of cheesy bread fondue that is a fabulous side dish (or vegetarian meal). It is like a squash bread pudding.

How do you eat this luscious thing? Well, the fun way would be to set it in the middle of the table and give everyone a spoon! Make sure to get all the yummy squash from the sides and bottom. I scooped out the mixture onto our plates. We had enough for 6 servings, and the leftovers were a perfect lunch.

Palma’s passions are Italian travel, cooking, and living an Italian lifestyle in the southern California desert. She is in private practice as a licensed Marriage Family Therapist. Palma and her husband love sharing their knowledge of Italy with others during their small group tours to bella Italia. http://www.palmabellasitaly.com/