Squash stuffed with a hearty mixture of soy mince and celery.  Not only is it delicious and healthy, it looks wonderful served in its butternut shell.

I roast squash often, but thought I needed to nail down a specific recipe. I wanted to let the butternut flavour shine through, but not go the traditional route.  Thus, the soy mince and lacking a cheese topping. Throw in some celery and you have a stuffed squash unlike the traditional recipes.

I chose coconut oil for the flavour, as well as being easy to fry the ingredients. It also happens to result in a vegan friendly recipe.

The volume of spices may seem low for the amount of squash. Again, I wanted the core flavours of the vegetables to stand out. The spices accent that flavour. With this balance, even the soy mince lends to the taste.

Though the recipe may seem to have many steps, don’t worry about difficulty.  Stuffed squash is like a casserole, so long as everything gets mixed, it’ll be fine. You can safely overlap the phases of this recipe to save time — nothing needs to be watched closely.

I’ve prepared the same recipe with hokkaido squash for a slightly different, but equally lovely taste. I suspect it’ll work well with many squash cultivars.

Pictured: Not all of my stuffing fit in the squash, so I served it nicely on a plate.

Celery and Soy Stuffed Butternut Squash

Ingredients

Roast

1. 1 medium 1 kilogram
   Butternut Squash
2. 30 g ¹⁄₈ cup
   extra virginOlive Oil
3. ¹⁄₄ teaspoon
   Salt
4. 1 teaspoon
   DryRosemary

Soy

1. 50 g 1 cup
   FineSoya Mince
2. 250 g 250 mL
   Water

Stuffing

1. 60 g ¹⁄₄ cup
   Coconut Oil
2. 3 small 200 g
   Yellow Onionsliced
3. 60 g
   Celerychopped
4. 4 small 350 g
   Tomatodiced

Spices

1. 1 teaspoon
   Coriander Seedground
2. ¹⁄₄ teaspoon
   Chili Powderground (optional)
3. ¹⁄₄ teaspoon
   Peppercornground
4. ¹⁄₄ teaspoon
   Salt

Equipment

• frying pan
• stove
• large mixing bowl
• oven
• baking tray
• small pot

Directions

Roasting

1. Clean the butternut squash and slice it in half. Remove the seeds — you can keep these for later roasting.
2. Place both halves on a baking tray with the open side up, the meat is exposed.
3. Spread the oil across the squash.
4. Sprinkle the salt and rosemary over the squash.
5. Roast at 200°C for 30Minute, until a fork goes easily through the fleshy part.
6. Remove the tray from the oven.

Soy Stuffing

1. Add the water and soy mince to a small pot.
2. Bring the pot to a boil and turn off the heat.
3. Let it stand for at least 5 minutes.
4. Strain the soy and dump it into a large mixing bowl.

Fry Stuffing

1. Place about half of the coconut oil into a frying pan and bring it to maximum heat.
2. Add the sliced onions to the frying pan.
3. Fry until they are slightly browned or translucent, about 5 minutes. Dump the onions into the large mixing bowl with the soy mince.
4. Add the chopped celery to the pan along with the remaining coconut oil.
5. Fry until the celery is slightly softer and translucent, about 5 minutes. Dump the celery into the mixing bowl.
6. Add the diced tomatoes to the pan. Let them fry for 5-10 minutes. You can turn the heat off after 5 minutes.
7. Dump the tomatoes into the mixing bowl.

Mixing

1. Using a spoon, scoop out the insides of the butternut squash. Leave a bit on the edges so it does not fall apart.
2. If some of the squash is a bit harder, then scrape it out with the spoon, or cut it out with a knife.
3. If you have harder pieces, dice them and fry them for 5-10 minutes until a bit softer. You may also fry some of the softer meat for a flavour variation.
4. Dump the squash into the mixing bowl.
5. Add the spices, the coriander, chili, pepper and salt to the mixing bowl.
6. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly.

Stuff

1. Fill the squash halves with the stuffing. You will need to pack it tightly so it fits. Put any extra into an oven safe dish.
2. Roast the squash, top-heat at 200°C, for 10-20 minutes.
3. If you've prepared this in advance and the ingredients have cooled, turn the heat down to 100°C after 10 minutes and let it warm longer.
4. Serve the squash. The skin may be eaten, but need not be.