Recipe: Pork & Apple-stuffed Acorn Squash

Inspired by a stuffed squash recipe in the Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook, I made my own tonight.  I love the combination of pork, apples, onion and sage, so thought they would hang out well together in an edible bowl…

Ingredients:

• 1 acorn squash (or other similar round-ish squash), cut in half lengthwise, seeded
• 1 lb ground pork
• 2 Granny Smith or other tart, crisp apples, peeled, cored and diced
• 1 yellow onion
• 1-2 tbsp of fresh sage, chopped fine
• 2 tsp of fresh thyme (the leaves are small enough to leave whole, just pull off from stems)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp whole fennel seeds (optional)
• 2 tbsp of bacon fat or butter
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Set oven to 400 degrees F.  In a casserole dish, place acorn squash halves face down, with about 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of the dish.  Let bake for 30-40mins.
• While the squash bakes, heat up a frying pan (I use cast-iron) at medium.  Add about 1 tsp of the bacon fat or butter to lightly coat the pan.  Add the ground pork.  As it cooks, stir occasionally and sprinkle in salt & pepper to taste.
• While the pork cooks, dice your apple and onion.
• Once the pork is cooked with no pink left, remove from pan to a bowl.  Set aside.
• Add another tbsp of bacon fat or butter to the empty pan.  Then add the apple and onion.
• Stir occasionally for 5-7 minutes, until apples are soft and onions translucent.
• Once the apples and onions are done, turn heat down to minimum.  Add the pork back to the pan.
• Then add the sage, thyme, fennel, cinnamon, cumin and salt & pepper.
• Remove the squash from oven when you can easily poke through the flesh with a fork.
• Flip over the squash, and set on plates.  Make sure there is no water remaining in the face-up squash.
• Using a large spoon, scoop enough of the pork mix to fill the squash.
• Serve immediately.

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