(Recipe can be found on the site Heather’s Dish here.)
Step by Step Instructions:
The Apple and Bacon Stuffed Acorn Squash comes together before you know it with the following ingredients: 1 Acorn Squash, White Wine, 6 strips of Bacon, 1 Apple (I went with the Gala variety), Salt & Pepper, Heavy Cream, Almonds (1/2 cup and I used sliced almonds), 3 Carrots, Maple Syrup, and Bread Crumbs.
Start off by preheating your oven to 400 degrees. Then cut the acorn squash in half. I find it a bit easier to heat up the squash for 1 minute on each side in the microwave. It softens the squash enough to cut through – especially when your muscles are less than visible like mine. 😉
Flip over the squash halves on your cutting board and go grab a soup spoon.
Use the spoon to scoop out the seeds from each half of the squash. They come out pretty easily, and then just scrape the stringy bits from the insides so it’s nice and clean.
Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Then place the acorn squash cut-side down in the dish and put about 1/4 cup of water in the dish. I put enough in to cover the bottom of the dish. Then bake it up for 20-30 minutes until the squash is very tender.
Once the squash was in the oven I got 6 strips of bacon going in a pan over medium-low heat (a setting of 4 on my stove). I start my bacon in a cold pan, in case you’re curious.
While the bacon cooks, I started finely chopping the 3 carrots after I peeled them and cut off the ends.
When the bacon is done, set it aside to cool, and keep the drippings in the pan because you’ll need them in a minute.
Then I chopped up the apple using my apple corer and then chopping the wedges into small pieces.
Add the carrots and apple to the drippings and cook for about 10 minutes. You want them to be tender. I covered the dish for about 3 minutes halfway through the cooking time to steam them a bit and ensure that they were tender. Be sure to stir regularly.
About this time the squash was done. I pierced it with a sharp knife to make sure that they were tender.
I carefully used my Teflon-tipped tongs to flip the squash so they sat in the dish with the cut-side up.
Also while the carrots and apples cooked, I crumbled the now cool bacon.
After 10 minutes the carrots and apple were tender.
I then added 1/2 cup of sliced almonds and cooked them for about a minute stirring frequently.
Then I added 1/8 cup of white wine and cooked until the wine evaporated. I went with a semi-sweet white wine I already had on hand that was slightly fruity.
I added a bit of salt and pepper to the pan for additional seasoning and stirred it up.
Remove the pan from the heat and add 1/8 cup of heavy cream, about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of bread crumbs, and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup.
Then stir it up and you’ll see it starts to really come together.
Finally add the bacon (sigh)…
…and stir it up. God this stuffing smelled so good!
Then spoon the stuffing into the squash halves until they are nice and full. Bake them for another 5 minutes or until warm. Serve these up immediately and enjoy! I love that you can scoop up some of the squash and eat the stuffing in one bite. It’s so delightful! Happy Fall ya’ll!
- 1 Acorn Squash
- 1 large Apple
- 3 small Carrots
- 6 slices Bacon
- ½ cup sliced Almonds
- ¼ cup Breadcrumbs (optional)
- ⅛ cup White Wine
- ⅛ cup Heavy Cream
- 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 400. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds with a spoon. Spray a baking dish with nonstick spray and place the squash cut-side down. Add about ¼ of water and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes. You want the flesh to be very tender!
- Meanwhile cook the bacon in a skillet over medium low heat until done and crispy. Remove from skillet and let cool before crumbling.
- Finely chop the apple (I left the skin on) and carrots and add to the pan with the bacon drippings. Saute for about 10 minutes until soft; add the almonds and saute another minute. Add the wine and let it evaporate while stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.
- Stir in the cream, maple syrup and breadcrumbs and let the mixture sit until the squash is done. Crumble bacon and stir into the apple mixture.
- When the squash is very tender carefully flip it over using tongs and put half of the apple mixture into the middle of each squash half. Bake another 5 minutes at 400. Serve hot!
3
Leave a Reply