Twice-baked Butternut Squash with Kale and Goat Cheese

Wandering the stores before the Thanksgiving holiday, I watched as people bought strawberries, asparagus, and all kinds of other things that aren't in season right now, and probably taste like pale husks of their intended glory.  And I figured it would be irresponsible not to at least serve something that makes you feel like it's actually Autumn.  But all I kept seeing were soup and casserole recipes, and they weren't doing it for me this year.  So I started thinking, what about a "twice-baked squash"?  You know, you cook it, then you fill it up with something, and then you cook it again.  Maybe omit the large amounts of sour cream that rocketed the twice-baked potato to stardom, but at least fill the squash with other seasonal ingredients.  Plus cherry tomatoes - I know, I'm a terrible person.

In my hunt for this recipe, I came pretty close with one from Olive Magazine, which called for zucchini and bell peppers to be stuffed into a roasted squash.  So I modified the ingredient list slightly, to substitute in sauteed kale instead.  The result ended up exceeding my expectations and capacity, full of complex flavors from the roasted vegetables, and filling enough to be its own meal.  For better or worse, this ended up being one of our sides for Thanksgiving, so we ended up with quite a bit left over.  Overall, this recipe would make a great vegetarian dinner or an impressive (but large) side.  I don't even know what to call it because there's so much going on, so let's just go with twice-baked squash.

A bit more healthy than your average twice-baked potato, I'd say

Twice-Baked Butternut Squash with Goat Cheese and Kale

Modified from Olive Magazine, March 2007

• 2 small butternut squash
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• a pinch (1/8 tsp) dried red chile pepper flakes
• 1 tsp thyme, chopped
• 10 ounces kale, torn into bite-sized pieces
• 2 small red onions, cut into thin wedges
• 7 ounces cherry tomatoes
• 3 ounces pine nuts
• 3 ounces goat's cheese, crumbled
• 1 tbsp breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp parmesan

Heat the oven to 400 F. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds, then cut criss-cross patterns over the cut side of each one.  Mix together the garlic, 2 tbsp olive oil, chile flakes, and thyme, and brush this mixture over the flesh.

The prepped squash, before roasting

Place the squash on a large sheet pan lined with parchment paper, and bake for about 20-30 minutes.  Then add the onion wedges to the sheet pan, and roast for an additional 20-25 minutes.  Finally, add the tomatoes and pine nuts, and cook for another 10 minutes.  If at any point the squash look to be done, remove them to a plate and finish roasting the remaining vegetables.  What does that look like?  Well, see below.  Also, smoke coming from your oven is a good indicator that you should roast for at least another 3 hours, and then go out for dinner.  Total time for the squash to be in the oven in this step is 45-60 minutes based on how well your oven is calibrated.

The squash and vegetables, after roasting.  Sorry you can't smell this through your computer screen, but maybe if you try hard enough...

To make the filling, saute the kale in a large pan over medium-high heat in the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil.  Add salt and pepper to taste, and feel free to add some additional crushed garlic in this step as well.  Then, in a small bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, parsley and parmesan.  All of the above steps can be completed early in the day, or the day prior.

Kale - it's not just for decorating cheese trays and salad bars anymore.  Saute in a large pan with olive oil.

Garnish the stuffed squash with a mixture of breadcrumbs, parsley, and freshly grated Parmesan

 

Try to shove everything into the squash in an attractive way, then roast again to brown and melt the cheeses

Arrange the roasted vegetables and goat's cheese in the squash halves, scatter with the breadcrumb mix and bake for a further 10 minutes or until golden and bubbling.  If you prepared the ingredients earlier and they have cooled, add another 10 minutes to the cooking time.

Here's what the finished product looks like, served as part of our Thanksgiving meal