Nigel prepared this delicious recipe for our dinner last night. It’s simple and so tasty I had to share it with you.
You can use any squash or pumpkin although last night we used a Pattison Golden Marbre scallop squash which is a French heirloom variety.
The flesh is a beautiful bright orange colour, is tender and has a nice flavour. It also looks so pretty on the plate. One squash will serve 2 people for a light lunch or dinner.
Ingredients:
I scallop squash* see note 1 below
2 shallots or one medium onion finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped or grated
100g smoked lardons (bacon strips)
6 big fresh sage leaves shredded plus another 4 to garnish
125g of Marscapone cheese
4 sun dried tomatoes drained and sliced
Parmesan
Method:
Cut the patisson or squash in half lenghways and remove the seeds with a spoon.
Season well with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and roast in a preheated oven 190°C fan (400°F or a bit higher) for 45 minutes or until tender. Remove from the oven.
While the squash is roasting, Gently fry the lardons without oil in a frying pan until golden then remove from the pan and set aside.
Cook the onion and garlic in the pan using the bacon fat and then return the lardons to the pan along with the shredded sage leaves. Cook for another few minutes.
Spoon the onion, lardon, sage mixture into the hollow of the squash.
Carefully spread the Marscapone cheese on the top, place the sundried tomatoes on top of that and grate over a generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.
Pop back in the oven until bubbling (approx 15 minutes) at 190°C (410°F) and flash under the grill to brown if necessary. *See note 2
Serve with a side salad and crusty bread.
Notes:
*1 You can use any squash or pumpkin but the cooking time in the oven may vary. When we used half a larger pumpkin it took an hour and half to cook but using the pattison pictured here it took 45 minutes.
*2 If it’s bubbling and brown no need to pop it under the grill
*3 When choosing your squash or pumpkin bear in mind that it’s good to have a decent sized hole to stuff (as the actress said to the bishop!)
*4 The skin of many squashes is edible and delicious (butternut, bleu de hongrie) but some is tough (as was this one) so we scooped out the flesh. Equally delicious just a little different.
*5 This recipe can easily be adapted to make a veggie option. Just leave out the lardons and up the onions a bit.
