Happy October! I thought it’d be fitting to share this great recipe now that Fall is officially here and because it features one of my favorite fall vegetables, yellow squash. I picked up these beauties at Farmer John’s Market while on a day trip out to Leesburg, VA a couple weeks ago. After gorging myself on wine and snacks with friends, we made one last stop at this adorable road side market on the way back to the city. I wanted to do something different with them, so I called up my Mom to get some ideas. Coincidentally, she had recently made stuffed squash with baby shrimp and other veggies, so I immediately thought of all the veggies I could pack into these yellow boats.
I put everything but the kitchen sink in the squash boats, from kale to my left over quinoa, many veggies made an appearance. The quinoa stuffing will make a little over what you need to fill the boats with, but the leftovers are just as good as the complete package! I jammed out to “Home Again” by Michael Kiwanuka while making this recipe. I find this is the perfect song to end my long days with and it really relaxes me while I’m in my kitchen.
- 2 yellow squash
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ red onion, chopped
- 6 baby heirloom tomatoes (can substitute cherry tomatoes here)
- 1 handful kale, chopped
- 1 c. cooked quinoa
- 3 tbs peccorino romano cheese, plus more for sprinkling on top
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp pepper
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- Prepare the squash by cutting each in half and scooping out the innards with a melon baller or spoon.
- Rough chop the meat of the squash and set aside.
- Add the evoo to a pan and on medium, saute the garlic, red onions, tomatoes, squash innards and kale. Season liberally with the salt and pepper.
- While this is sautéing, start your quinoa in a separate pot and cook through.
- After sautéing the vegetable mixture for about 15 minutes, turn off the heat and stir in the cooked quinoa and add your cheese.
- Line up the squash halves on a sheet pan and drizzle with evoo and a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Stuff with a few tablespoons of the quinoa mixture at a time. Top each half with additional cheese.
- Bake for 40 minutes until golden brown or until the squash is cooked through.
