My version of my mom’s stuffed butternut squash is a new addition to my collection of recipes, although it is a dish that my dear mom has been making for years. Yummilly, it very closely tracks my mom’s version.
It is actually a fairly easy recipe, and is fairly easy to scale up to feed a larger crowd than the two to four servings to which this recipe is tailored.
Beyond being a tasty dish, Mom used to make it as a way to use up rice she’d already made earlier in a larger, more conveniently sized batch, or as a way to have rice in the fridge to use later in the week; for this post, I show the photos making rice, to have more rice for later. Conversely, I do not show the cooking of the ground beef, already having some previously cooked and frozen ground beef on hand.
Also with regard to the rice used in the photos below, I used a commercial flavoured rice I like; however, the point of the recipe lies in using any rice that suits your tastes.
Note: This post uses photos from two separate cooking sessions, as I was working out some of the required specific amounts of each ingredient and techniques. As such, in some cases, one may notice slight discrepancies between two or more photos showing the progression of steps the narrative identifies as sequential, when in fact in some cases the photos may switch between two separate sessions which may have inadvertently involved slight differences.
Making the stuffed butternut squash:
I began by taking out a commercial packet of a flavoured rice I like:
The flavouring packet was taken out of the package:
The rice in the packet was measured out, and a matching amount was measured out from a bag of plain rice, since I find the amount of flavouring in the packet too strong when the rice is made with the amount of rice as packaged:
The rice was added to a pot:
Water was measured out:
The water was added to the rice:
The contents of the flavour packet was added to the rice:
The rice, flavouring, and water were mixed with a fork:
Margarine was taken out:
Margarine was spooned out of the tub …
… and transferred to the pot with the rice:
The stove burner was turned on …
… and the rice was brought to a boil …
… at which point the stove was turned down to a low setting …
… and a timer set to twenty minutes:
The rice was simmered for 20 minutes:
While the rice was still simmering, a butternut squash of approximately 2lbs was taken out:
The squash was cut in half along its length:
The seeds were removed from the squash:
The squash halves were peeled and trimmed:
The squash halves were cut in two:
The halves without a natural hollow were hollowed out, and the extra kept:
About an inch’s worth of water was added to the microwave-safe cooking vessel:
The squash pieces, including those cut out from the solid pieces of squash, were placed in the cooking vessel:
The squash was covered and placed in the microwave oven:
The microwave oven (1200 watts) was set to 10 minutes:
The cooked squash was taken out of the microwave oven:
The water was drained from the cooking vessel, and the pieces cut out to hollow out two of the pieces were transferred to a bowl (while the rest was put aside for the moment) …
… and the squash pieces were mashed with a fork:
The mashed squash was put aside for a few moments.
Normally, I cook ground beef and onions in advance, and freeze it in ice cube trays, which conveniently hold roughly an ounce in each well. Earlier, two and a half cubes, about two and half ounces, were taken out of the freezer, and allowed to defrost on the counter:
The ground beef cubes were broken up with a fork:
The mashed squash was added to the beef:
At this point, the rice was cooked:
A cup of rice was measured out, while the rest was placed in a container to freeze and eat later:
The cooked rice was added to the cooked beef and mashed squash:
The cooked ground beef, mashed squash, and rice were mixed together with a fork:
The rice mixture was put aside, and a can of condensed tomato soup was taken out:
The can of condensed tomato soup was opened:
The cooked hollowed out squash pieces were taken out again:
A small amount of the condensed tomato soup was placed in the bases of each hollowed-out piece of squash:
The rice, cooked ground beef, and mashed squash mix was spooned into the squash:
The rest of the condensed tomato soup was spooned onto the top of the rice, beef, and squash mix:
The cooking vessel was covered …
… and the dish was placed in the microwave oven again:
The microwave oven (1200 watts) was set to seven minutes:
After seven minutes of cooking, the stuffed squash was ready to eat:
… and the stuffed squash was served:
It was, of course, yummy, and of course, Mom approved.
(… and, at the risk of sounding like I’m bragging, putting aside that, well, I *had* cooked it, I couldn’t tell whether I’d cooked it, or whether Mom had cooked it!)