Italian Stuffed Patty Pan Squash

This year’s garden is doing ok. The tomatoes aren’t great but the onions, zucchini, pattypan squash, and eggplant (grown in the straw bales) are doing well. It also looks like it will be another wonderful winter squash crop. 

I planted our favorite honeynut and acorn squash but added a new variety; carnival - they are pretty in color and hopefully live up to the hype of their deliciousness. I am already planning next year and red kuri squash will be in the garden. 

Monday night’s storm wreaked some havoc in the garden; some of the tomatoes were leaning on the fence and the squash arbors, well let’s just say I thought they were going to fall over. Dan came to the rescue tho he got everything back up and tied down. Everything else seemed to survive even my neighbor's nearly dead maple tree. I was sure it would be lying on the ground but it was standing tall - go figure. 

As I mentioned, squash is doing well at the moment we have 2 zucchini in the fridge; 6 pattypans on the counter, and new squash coming in every day. I decided to try something new but stuffing the squash with mushrooms, onions, and quinoa and then topping with homemade tomato sauce and Italian seasoning - it was delicious!

Ingredients:

• 6 patty pan squash (about 3 inches or 7.5 cm in diameter)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (1 tablespoon to fry up the quinoa mixture and 1 tablespoon to drizzle over patty pan squash just before baking)
• 1 onion chopped
• 4 cloves garlic peeled and minced
• 1.5 cups quinoa cooked (we used multi-colored but you could use plain or even rice)
• ½ cup spinach frozen (thawed and all the liquid squeezed out) – you can also use 3 cups fresh garden spinach and stir fry or steam just until wilted and bright green.
• 4-5 Tomatoes large peeled fresh (we simply cut the tomatoes in half. Grate the flesh side to the grater and then all that is left is the skin and you pitch that- much easier than that whole boiling ice water hack for peeling tomatoes) – add 1 tomato into the quinoa mixture and 3 for the tomato sauce.
• 1 teaspoon fresh basil 
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Prepare the quinoa mixture: In a medium pan, add the olive oil, onion, and 2 of the 4 garlic cloves and sauté until translucent. Add the cooked quinoa, spinach, tomato, and basil. Season with salt and pepper and stir fry until all incorporated – 1-2 minutes. Add parmesan cheese (if using) and toss. Set aside.
• Prepare the Patty Pan Squash: Wash the squash and cut off the top. With a small spoon, scoop out the seeds carefully. (Try using a little coffee stirring spoon, teaspoon measuring spoon, or a scooper for this task)
• Prepare the Fresh Tomato Sauce: Spray the bottom of a medium-sized baking pan 9 x 9 with a little oil or rub with a little olive oil. Place the remaining 3-4 chopped tomatoes, 2 garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix to incorporate.
• Place the prepped patty pan squash on top of the bed of fresh tomato sauce in the baking dish. Stuff each patty pan squash with the prepared quinoa mixture press and pile high. Place the tops of the patty pan and squash in the pan. Drizzle the Italian stuffed Patty Pan squash with olive oil and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the patty pan squash is tender.

Thanks for stopping by!