Sweet Dumpling - This small, mildly sweet-tasting squash resembles a miniature pumpkin with its top pushed in. Weighing only about 7 ounces, it has sweet and tender orange flesh and is a great size for stuffing and baking as individual servings. Sweet dumplings are tiny but great for roasting and presenting whole.
Recipe Ideas:
I love stuffing these little guys with:
* fresh, house-made ricotta, garlic and herbs
* white bean, olive oil, sauteed kale and garlic
* Sauteed mushrooms, Parmesan, and spinach
* Feta cheese, spinach, garlic and pine nuts
* Ratatouille
* Soft Polenta, fresh ricotta and tomatoes
*Italian sausage, marinara, mozzarella
Roasted Whole Sweet Dumpling Squash
Roasted Whole Sweet Dumpling Squash
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Sweet Dumpling Squash, washed, tops sliced off and seeds removed
olive oil (or use a nice nut oil; walnut, pumpkin, hazelnut, etc.,)
Kosher Salt
Fresh black pepper
Filling of your choice:
(you will need approximately 1/3 to 1/2 cup of filling per squash)
Once cleaned and prepped, drizzle cavity and top of each squash will olive oil. Sprinkle each piece with salt and pepper and fill with your choice of filling. Place squash, with tops, in a baking pan with sides. Pour 1/4 cup of water into the bottom of the pan and cover with a lid or with foil. Bake, covered for 15 minutes. Remove cover and bake an additional 15-20 minutes until the squash is tender and tops are golden brown.
Once cleaned and prepped, drizzle cavity and top of each squash will olive oil. Sprinkle each piece with salt and pepper and fill with your choice of filling. Place squash, with tops, in a baking pan with sides. Pour 1/4 cup of water into the bottom of the pan and cover with a lid or with foil. Bake, covered for 15 minutes. Remove cover and bake an additional 15-20 minutes until the squash is tender and tops are golden brown.
This recipe is for my squash lovers, waiting to use up the produce I encouraged you to buy at summers end.
Enjoy,
Chef Deb
Enjoy,
Chef Deb
2 comments:
Hi Deb,
This sounds amazing. I'm going to try it out. For the ricotta, garlic, and herbs mixture, do I use raw garlic and fresh herbs? And is this usually a main course or a side dish?
Hi Jenn,
Yes, fresh minced garlic and fresh herbs..but if all you have in the house is powdered garlic and dried herbs, those would work as well.
They can be either a main or a side: for a side I would split them evenly in half.
For a Main course you might consider blending an egg into the ricotta mixture to add more protein; or a few bits of italian bacon, some Parmesan. Be sure to salt and pepper your mixture before adding the filling. My squash were small, so I ate two of them as my main meal.
These also keep well (once cooked) in the fridge and can be warmed up in the microwave.
You can even prep these on the weekend (uncooked) , wrap them up in foil and cook them off some time later in the week.
Does this help?
Chef Deb T.
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