Stuffed Butternut Squash

Ingredients

1 – 2 medium butternut squash pumpkin
▢2 tablespoon Wilson’s olive oil
▢ 1 brown (yellow) onion finely chopped, you could also use 2-3 French Shallots
3 garlic cloves mince
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme leaves removed and chopped
80 grams cooked chestnuts roughly chopped, around a half cup measured before chopping
120 grams cooked quinoa
400 grams cooked brown lentils drained and rinsed
20 grams dried cherries or cranberries roughly 2 tablespoons
a pinch of nutmeg to taste
30 grams vegan butter around 2 tablespoon, Wilson’s Butter Substitute works well!
50 grams baby spinach 2 good handfuls
a good pinch of Wilson’s Himalayan salt
Wilson’s mixed peppercorns to taste

Method:

- Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees C. To prepare the squash, lay each on its side and carefully cut 1½ inch thick slices. Using a small cookie cutter, cut a circle in the centre of each round to create a ring. It may take some grunt to push the cutter through and the rings may break; no matter. Discard any seeds and cut the inside rounds in to cubes. NB: If you don’t have a cookie cutter, you can use a scoop to scoop out the flesh and simply chop the ends of the squash that you don’t use into cubes.
  Place the squash rounds in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Season with sea salt and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
  Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet or fry pan and add the garlic, onion and fresh thyme leaves. Sweat them for around 7-minutes or until soft.
  Add the chestnuts, cherries, squash cubes and the butter and cook until the butter is melted before adding a pinch of nutmeg. Stir well.
  Finally, add the cooked quinoa and the drained lentils and continue to cook for another five minutes before stirring in the baby spinach. Season with sea salt to taste and a good crack of black pepper and when the spinach has wilted remove the stuffing from the heat.
  Keeping the oven on, take the partially cooked squash rings from the oven and place them on your kitchen counter. Carefully, fill each ring with a good amount of stuffing, drizzle each with a small amount of olive oil before placing them back in the oven for a further 20 – 30 minutes or until the squash is cooked through.
  Remove from the oven and serve with a vegan gravy and sides.