Stuffed Gem Squash

Roasted Stuffed Gem Squash filled with herby, tomato-ey bulgur wheat is a thing of beauty and deliciousness but you can also kick it up a notch with the addition of Italian sausage. 

Gem squash is a South African heirloom squash that has gained popularity in many other countries. In its native land, it is considered a summer squash but in the United States, it falls into the winter squash category. It’s a descendant of a Central American squash that made its way across the sea and is a must-have in South Africa. 

If you’d like to learn more about them and where to find gem squash, this post on Cook Sister is very informative: https://www.cooksister.com/2010/10/gem-squash-central-finding-them-growing-them-and-eating-them.html

Stuffed Gem Squash  - Two Ways

In the following recipe, we will make a base stuffing with onions, tomatoes, bulgur and herbs, which is delicious on its own for half the gem squash. The other half, we’ll fill with a mixture of the base stuffing with added Italian sausage. By adjusting your filling amounts, you can make all vegetarian, leaving out the sausage altogether or add another link or two of sausage to stuff all the gem squash with a meaty mixture. If you can't find gem squash, substitute small acorn squash which are of a similar size. 

 

Ingredients

4 gem (or acorn) squash 

For the stuffing:

1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil, plus more for sautéing the onion and drizzling on the squash before roasting

1 large or 2 medium onions, minced (Mine weighed 7 oz or almost 200g)

1 cup or 210g medium coarse bulgur wheat

1.1 lbs or 500g tomato passata aka tomato puree

1 teaspoon fine sea salt or to taste

1 vegetable stock cube 

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Small bunch fresh parsley

Large bunch fresh cilantro

4 spicy Italian sausages – approx. weight 11 1/3 oz or 320g

Method

Sauté the onion in a drizzle of olive oil until softened and translucent. Tip in the bulgur wheat and give the whole thing a good stir so the bulgur is coated with the oil and onions. 

Add in the tomato passata or puree, the stock cube and the black pepper. 

Add 1 cup or 240ml water and the crushed red pepper to the mixture and, over a medium heat, bring it up to a slow simmer. 

Put a lid on the pan and leave to simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the bulgur wheat is al dente.  Test it occasionally, as you don’t want it to overcook and turn to mush. 

While the stuffing simmers, remove the sausage from its skin and pan-fry it in a skillet, breaking it apart into crumbles. You want it well-browned and crispy in places. Remove from the heat and drain. 

When the bulgur wheat is done, stir in the 1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil and taste for salt. Add salt as needed. I rarely do as the stock cubes has enough salt for us.  

Mince the stems of your parsley and cilantro and chop the leaves. Add both to the stuffing and stir well.  

Cut the gem squash in halves and scoop the seeds out. 

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. (Or at this point, the filled squash can be kept in the refrigerator until you are ready to roast them.)

Put the gem squash in a tight fitting pan. Fill four of the gem squash halves with the bulgur wheat stuffing.

 

Mix the balance of the stuffing with the browned Italian sausage crumbles. 

Fill the other four squash halves with the mixture. 

Drizzle on a little olive oil and roast the stuffed squash in your preheated oven for about one hour or until the squash are softened enough for your liking. Check part way through and cover the tops with foil if they are browning too much.

Depending on how old your gem squash are, you might be able to eat the skin. If not, serve each with a spoon so your diners can scoop the flesh out with bites of the stuffing. Delicious! 

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today, as I’m sure you can guess from the list below, we are all sharing winter squash recipes. Many thanks to our host, Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Acorn Squash and Apple Soup  from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Butternut Squash Latkes from Palatable Pastime
• Kar Assaly - Egyptian Pumpkin Pie from Pandemonium Noshery
• Red Pumpkin Chutney/Poonsanikai Chutney from Sneha's Recipe
• Stuffed Gem Squash from Food Lust People Love
• Winter Squash, Ginger, & Chicken Stir Fry from Amy’s Cooking Adventures

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls #BreadBakers

Made one day and baked the next morning, these Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls are the perfect breakfast at home or on the go.  

I had a very different kind of breakfast bread planned for this event but for the first time in a very long time, much to my disappointment, the recipe was a complete failure. Honestly, I’m not sure where I went wrong. 

Fortunately, these guys came out so good that I ate two back to back. I’m not kidding! Smoked sausage in sourdough crescent rolls may be my new favorite breakfast.

Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls

This recipe is adapted from An Italian in my Kitchen. Use your favorite cooked sausage in the rolls. Mine is smoked jalapeño sausage. 

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unfed sourdough starter (discard) 

1/4 cup or 60ml lukewarm milk, plus extra for a milk wash before baking 

1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 cup or 125g all purpose flour plus more for rolling out the dough 

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 cooked sausages (I used smoked jalapeño ones.)

Method

In the mixing bowl add half of the flour, the sourdough starter, milk, sugar and yeast. Whisk until combined. 

Next add the melted butter, egg yolk and beat again.

Sift in the rest of the flour and the salt. 

Knead until smooth and elastic. This is quite a sticky dough but resist the urge to add too much flour. When dough is really sticky, I use a scraper to stretch it out on a clean countertop. 

Then use the scraper again to fold it over onto itself. 

And over again. 

Repeat those three steps until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 7-10 minutes. 

Let the dough rest for 15 minutes. Line a baking pan with baking parchment or a silicone liner. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a circle about 13 inches or 33 cm. Cut the circle into 8 triangles.

Place one sausage at the wide end, then roll up each triangle. Wet the point of the triangle with a little water if it doesn't want to stick. 

Place the sausage stuffed rolls on your prepared baking pan. Cover the rolls with greased cling film and put the rolls in the refrigerator to rise for 12-24 hours.  

In the morning or whenever you are ready to bake, remove the crescent rolls from the refrigerator and set them aside to warm up for about an hour. When they are almost room temperature, preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. 

Brush the rolls with a little milk. 

Bake the stuffed crescent rolls for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden. 

Remove them from the pan and set on a wire rack to cool. 

We love them with mustard but you can eat these lovely sausage rolls just as they are as well. 

Enjoy!  

Today’s Bread Bakers’ theme is breakfast breads. Check out all the great recipe links below. Many thanks to our host, Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen.

• Breakfast Garbage Bread from Making Miracles
• Danish Crisps from A Messy Kitchen
• English Muffins from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Flax Meal Breakfast Bread from Ambriosia
• Fresh Cherry Chocolate Sourdough Bread from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Multigrain Blueberry Bread from What Smells So Good?
• Montreal-Style Bagels from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Rhubarb Strawberry Spiced Sourdough Bread from Cook with Renu
• Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls from Food Lust People Love
• Spicy Masala Veggie Paratha from Magical Ingredients
• Sourdough Angel Biscuits from Palatable Pastime
• Sourdough Crepes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sourdough Discard Pancakes from Sneha’s Recipe


                                                     
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.



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Italian Sausage and Chicken Ragù - Instant Pot

This Italian Sausage and Chicken Ragù is not only delicious stirred through with a fresh herby ricotta, thanks to the Instant Pot, it is also quick enough for a weeknight meal. 

I honestly don’t know what took me so long to start using my Instant Pot. As I’ve mentioned before, it took a kitchen renovation to motivated me but, boy, howdy, do I love that thing now!

Anytime I see a slow cooker recipe that starts out by sautéing or browning something in a pan on the stove first, I think, HA. I can make that in the Instant Pot and skip the stove step. And I usually do. 

For anyone unfamiliar with the term ragù, it's just a fancy (Italian) way of saying meat sauce. Merriam-Webster defines ragù as "a hearty, seasoned Italian sauce of meat and tomatoes that is used chiefly in pasta dishes and that is typically made with ground beef, tomatoes, and finely chopped onions, celery, and carrots."

Italian Sausage and Chicken Ragù with Herby Ricotta

This recipe is adapted from a slow cooker one in the New York Times cooking section. The original took six hours to cook and contains only chicken. I highly recommend the addition of the hot Italian sausage to this dish you will make and serve in less than 30 minutes in your Instant Pot.

Ingredients

For the ragù:

19 oz or 538g hot Italian sausage

1 small carrot

1 small yellow or purple onion 

4 cloves garlic

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 10 oz or 290g each)

1 can (14.5 oz or 411g) crushed or diced tomatoes 

3 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 sprig fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)

1 sprig fresh oregano (or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano)

1 ½ teaspoons red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the herbed ricotta topping: 

1 cup or 250g whole-milk ricotta

Heaping 1/4 cup chopped soft fresh herbs, such as chives, oregano, parsley or basil, or a mix

zest 1 medium lemon

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

To serve:

10 oz or 285g tagliatelle, fettuccine, linguine or other long, thick pasta, cooked al dente according to package instructions.

Method

Peel and chop the carrot, onion and garlic. 

Remove the casings from the Italian sausage and put it in the Instant Pot on sauté. Cook for several minutes using a wooden spoon to break the sausage into crumbles as it browns. 

Add in the carrot, onion and garlic. Sauté, stirring often, for a few minutes more until the vegetables soften. 

Nestle the chicken breasts into the sausage and vegetables. 

Top with the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, olive oil, thyme, oregano, crushed red pepper and a sprinkle of fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Secure the lid on the Instant Pot and set it manually to 9 minutes. 

When the time is up, safely release the pressure. Remove and discard the herb sprigs.

Transfer the chicken breast to a cutting board and use two forks to shred the chicken then return it to the Instant Pot and stir well. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the package directions until al dente. 

While the pasta cooks, chop your herbs and combine them in a small bowl with the ricotta, lemon zest, balsamic vinegar and salt. 

Taste the sauce, adding more red-pepper flakes, if you like, and salt if needed.

Divide the pasta among bowls. Top with ragu and a good spoon of the herby ricotta. 

Enjoy! 

It’s MultiCooker Monday! Check out the variety of small appliance recipes my friends are sharing today. Many thanks to our host and organizer, Sue of Palatable Pastime. 

• Meringue Kisses in Toaster Oven from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken from Making Miracles
• Beef Barbacoa Tacos from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Italian Sausage and Chicken Ragu - Instant Pot from Food Lust People Love
• Ropa Vieja in the Slow Cooker from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• How to Cook Jowar/Sorghum in Instant Pot from Magical Ingredients

                                                         

Multicooker Monday is a blogger group created by Sue of Palatable Pastime for all of us who need encouragement to make better use of our small appliances like slow cookers, Instant Pots, Air Fryers, rice cookers and sous vide machines. We get together every third Monday of the month to share our recipes. If you are a food blogger who would like to post with us, please request to join our Facebook group. 

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Beef and Smoked Sausage Goulash (Instant Pot)

This flavorful beef and smoked sausage goulash is made in an Instant Pot, first up is the wonderfully rich meaty tomato sauce and then the (uncooked!) pasta is added. No fuss, no trouble, very delicious!

Growing up, goulash was one of my favorite meals.  Just a simple Bolognese sauce made with ground beef, mixed up with elbow macaroni. Kind of like Hamburger Helper but cooked from scratch. It was the perfect one-bowl kid food.

I’m not sure how this dish, so different from traditional Hungarian goulash got called by the same name, but speculation online is that they have beef and paprika in common and this version is properly called American goulash. I honestly don’t remember paprika in my mom’s dish though. All I know is that I loved it.

During our kitchen renovation a couple of months back, I was prepping and cooking in the laundry room on top of the dryer and washing machine, with a single hot plate, a slow cooker, an Instant Pot and a rice cooker. Meals got very creative in that small space!

From an appliance that I barely touched for the first four years that I owned it, my Instant Pot became my new best friend.

Beef and Smoked Sausage Goulash Instant Pot

If your family members don’t eat spicy foods, by all means substitute canned, diced tomatoes for the Ro-Tel, which comes in mild, original and hot. In any case, you can also use the store-brand equivalent. What I actually used this time, one of each:

Ingredients
For the sauce:
14 oz or 397g smoked sausage (Our favorite is Holmes Smokehouse with jalapeño)
1 medium onion, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 lbs or 1134g ground beef
2 cans (10 oz or 238g each) Ro-Tel diced tomatoes or store brand equivalent
1 can (6 oz or 170g) tomato paste
3 tablespoons dried Italian herbs
2 bay leaves
8 oz or 225g mushrooms

For adding the pasta:
1 beef stock cube
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 lb or 450g mini penne or elbow noodles

Optional for serving:
Parmesan cheese, grated
Crushed red pepper
Fresh parsley

Method
Cut your smoked sausage into half moon slices. Peel and chop your onion finely and mince the cloves of garlic.

Set your Instant Pot on sauté and add the olive oil to the pot along with the sausage. Cook the sausage, stirring frequently so it doesn’t stick, until it’s well browned.

Add in the chopped onion and minced garlic and give the whole thing a good stir.

Sauté for a few minutes or until the onion and garlic are soft and translucent. Use a slotted spoon to remove them to a bowl and set aside.

Add the ground beef to the Instant Pot.

Sauté until the meat is cooked through and well browned, breaking it into crumbles as it cooks. Ideally, it will even be crunchy in places. Drain the cooked beef and discard the grease created as the beef and sausage cooked.

Trim any hard ends off of the mushroom stems and slice the rest. Add them to the Instant Pot along with the sausage, onions and garlic, Ro-Tel, tomato paste, Italian herbs and bay leaves.

Use the Ro-Tel can to measure and add 1 1/2 cans of water to the pot. Give it all a good stir.

Put the lid on the Instant Pot and set it for 30 minutes on normal. When it finishes cooking, safely release the steam by putting a folded dish towel over it and releasing slowly.

Crumble in the beef stock cube and add 2 cups or 480ml water to the pot. Stir well until the stock cube is dissolved. Add in the salt and baking soda. Finally, add the pasta to the pot and stir very well, making sure the pasta is well covered by the liquid.

Put the lid back on and set the Instant Pot for 4 minutes. Once it’s done, put your dishcloth over the vent again and do a quick release. Stir well and remove the bay leaves before serving.

Top with grated Parmesan and parsley, if desired. We also love a sprinkle of crushed red pepper.

Enjoy!

It's MultiCooker Monday so I'm joining my fellow bloggers in sharing recipes made with our favorite small appliances like Instant Pots, air fryers, pressure cookers, slow cookers and even toaster ovens! Many thanks to our organizer and host, Sue of Palatable Pastime.

• Beef and Smoked Sausage Goulash from Food Lust People Love
• Instant Pot Ground Beef and Pasta from Making Miracles
• Black Eyed Pea Hummus from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Sweet Potato Fries using the Breville Smart Oven (air fryer) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Crockpot Veggie Fajitas from Veggies First Then Dessert
• Spinach & Masoor Dal - Pressure Cooker from Sneha's Recipe
• Saucy Taco Chicken Wings from Palatable Pastime
• Toaster Oven No-Knead Rolls from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking

Multicooker Monday is a blogger group created by Sue of Palatable Pastime for all of us who need encouragement to make better use of our small appliances like slow cookers, Instant Pots, Air Fryers, rice cookers and sous vide machines. We get together every third Monday of the month to share our recipes. If you are a food blogger who would like to post with us, please request to join our Facebook group.

Pin this Beef and Smoked Sausage Goulash!

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Sausage Honey Cornbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

If you are a fan of sweet cornbread and spicy breakfast sausage, you are going to LOVE these sausage honey cornbread muffins. They are the perfect combination of sweet and salty.

A few days ago I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t go back to sleep because I couldn’t stop thinking about muffin recipes for Muffin Monday. Should they be sweet, maybe with fruit or something seasonal like pumpkin or sweet potatoes? Or completely savory, perhaps with sausage or cheese or both? I finally dozed off again when I hit on this unusual combination of honey cornbread with breakfast sausage. Sweet and savory dreams.

I was a little bit nervous because I had invited a few friends over for coffee on Saturday morning and if the muffins were terrible, we’d go hungry. I am pleased to tell you that everyone loved them! It was an experiment that paid off.

Sausage Honey Cornbread Muffins

The actual cornbread muffin batter ingredients are almost identical to some honey thyme muffins I made several years ago, except I dropped the thyme and reduced the amount of sugar. I wanted these sweet but not too sweet. I also substituted canola for the butter and buttermilk for the yogurt, because that’s what I had on hand. The breakfast sausage is the kind that comes in a chub, meant to be sliced into patties.

Ingredients
1 lb or 450g hot or regular breakfast sausage (for example, Jimmy Dean or Owens – I used the store brand sausage from H-E-B.)
1 cup or 180g fine cornmeal (white or yellow but yellow makes prettier muffins)
1 cup or 125ml all-purpose flour
1/4 cup or 50g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 240ml buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil
1/4 cup or 60ml honey – plus more for drizzling, if you really have a sweet tooth

Method
Fry the breakfast sausage in a skillet, breaking it into crumbles as it browns. When it’s completely browned, remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and drain it of grease on some paper towels.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease your 12-cup muffin pan or line it with paper liners.

Mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add in the drained sausage crumbles and stir so that they are coated with the flour/cornmeal mixture.

In a small bowl, whisk together your buttermilk, eggs, canola and honey. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Divide the batter evenly between your muffin cups.

Bake the muffins in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until they are a nice golden brown. Allow to cool briefly and then remove the muffins to a wire rack.

These are delicious warm, plain or slathered with extra butter and/or honey. Enjoy!

Check out all the other great muffins my Muffin Monday friends are sharing today!

• Carrot Ginger Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Garlic Bread Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins from Making Miracles
• Sausage Honey Cornbread Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Stout Gingerbread Muffins from Passion Kneaded

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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