kitchen stasis
Recipe: roasted goat cheese-stuffed squash
I haven’t been cooking lately, unless you count reheating food in the nuker, on the stove top, or in the toaster oven (hey – that toaster oven is my redneck heritage). Why? Because I made too much food in the past week and now we are in the frenzied mode of trying to finish off those leftovers before they expire. Just hate to waste food… I can tell I have fallen into a rut of sorts. We were walking through our local mountain grocery store in search of hoisin sauce because we ran out. [Tangent: Let me tell you, I won’t make that mistake again… I shall henceforth maintain a proper store of genuine hoisin sauce from a reputable Asian grocer because the stuff they carry in my little town is really really narsty. Not nasty, but narsty. All of my ancestors were crying out in horror the moment that stuff touched my lips.] I wandered down the baking aisle in search of ?? Jeremy, in his effort to move us along, asked what I was looking for or rather what I wanted to make. I stopped and realized that I had filed into the recesses of my brain a todo list of sweets: raspberry almond tea cake, baklava, zebra torte, chocolate mousse…
I’m so lame. I have all of the ingredients ready to go, I think I’m just tired after skiing or maybe I’m still tired after my surgery? We went skiing today and I managed one of the most fabulous face plants. Because my left arm is not completely healed, when I fell, I kept my arms back to avoid injury. Except I biffed with my face. Funny how I was so impatient to recover from surgery so I could launch my body down the mountain. Gravity sports are great!
Anyway, I do have a lovely recipe to share with you today. I made this shortly after Christmas. It is another one of those foods I had years ago and loved and am finally getting my lazy bum around to replicating it. The evening before we left Ithaca – five years ago, our dear friends Mike and Carrie took us out for a special farewell dinner. One of the appetizers we ordered was a goat cheese stuffed squash. At this point, I can’t honestly recall anything about the dish other than it had squash, goat cheese, and tasted amazing. So that’s what I started with.
herbed goat cheese, squash, roasted garlic
Although I like goat cheese, I figured plain old goat cheese and squash would taste pretty dull. Even the herbed goat cheese could use a little nudge, nay, a sublime kick courtesy of the roasted garlic.
squeeze out the cloves
I crumbled the goat cheese and added mashed roasted garlic, fresh chopped parsley, and some salt. I debated ground pepper, because I love that stuff, but decided to hold off this time.
mix the filling
Each squash was sliced in half lengthwise and then the seeds were scooped out to form a nice little bowl for the filling.
i use my grapefruit spoon for everything but grapefruit
There was enough filling to form a mound in each squash half. Once the goat cheese mixture was packed down so it wouldn’t tumble out, I set the squash into a baking dish and sprinkled bread crumbs over the entire deal. Last but not least, a small sliver of butter over the filling and another on the neck of the squash half before roasting.
a drizzle of olive oil could work as well as the butter
It turned out better than I had expected. Maybe that isn’t helpful since I wasn’t expecting much. Jeremy and I both liked it! I think it’s a great vegetable side that I could serve to dinner guests. There are plenty of people with goat cheese issues. Heck, Jeremy just quipped that he is neither a fan of goat cheese nor squash, but that he liked this dish. So there ya have it. Give it a try if you’re remotely tempted. There is certainly room for playing around with the recipe.
verdict: delicious!
Roasted Goat Cheese-Stuffed Squash
[print recipe]
4 medium yellow squash, halved and seeded
7 oz. herbed goat cheese
1 bulb garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
3 tbsps fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup bread crumbs
butter
Lop off the top of the garlic bulb with a sharp knife to just expose the cloves. Place in a small baking dish and drizzle olive oil over the top of the bulb. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes. Remove the garlic cloves from the skins and mash or chop the cloves into a paste. Crumble the goat cheese into a medium bowl. Mix in the garlic, parsley, and add salt to taste. Stuff the mixture into the squash halves and set the squash, stuffing side up, in a baking dish. Sprinkle the tops with bread crumbs and top each mound of filling with a tiny sliver of butter. You can put another sliver on the neck of the squash. Bake at 425°F for 40 minutes. Serve hot.
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Now that is how to eat squash!
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:31 am
Looks lovely (though that’s also down to the photos), simple, and tasty – perfect thing for a work night. Any new ways to eat squash get my approval.
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:20 am
This squash looks fantastic, I’m going to have to try it. I bet the filling would be good on other veggies too.
Happy New Year Jen!
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:00 am
Mm…I love goat cheese.
I agree with Annemarie – with a chunk of good bread, this would make an easy and healthy weeknight meal.
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:28 am
I’m a squash fan – this sounds delicious!
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:56 am
I discovered goat cheese recently (yummy!), already in love with garlic, and with the abundance of squash (what do I do with them all!!), this is a winner! Thanks for a great idea :o)
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
“Noo! Protect the arm! Use the face!”
It’s funny because you’re OK.
The Squash looks incredible.
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
How creative! I would never have come up with such a combination but that sounds wonderful! Nice work and nice presentation too! Also, love the comment “I use my grapefruit spoon for everything but grapefruit”…too funny.
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I have also been working on clearing the holiday leftovers out of my fridge and freezer. I have bee trying to use them in new dishes though… which of course generates more leftovers… I have yet to try roasting garlic. The roasted garlic in your photo looks really yummy and the squash sounds really amazing!
January 4th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Oooh! Looks good! I did something similar last year, but with black rice mixed into the cheese. I gotta tell you, yours looks better.
I think if I didn’t have a freezer I’d never cook! I hate eating leftovers past day two.
January 4th, 2008 at 9:05 am
What a beautiful vegetable dish! I don’t like goat cheese but I really want to try this. Hope your arm heals quickly!
January 4th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I have never cooked squash in my whole life…it never showed up on my family’s dining table so naturally I don’t know how to cook it. ;)
Your creation looks very delicious and very creative!
January 4th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
These look delicious! Great way to make squash. Do take care of the arm…and your face.
January 5th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Peabody – yum!
Annemarie – I agree, I love squash. Always on the prowl for new recipes.
Nicisme – thanks sweetie! Happy new year to you too.
Bridget – yup, it’s quite easy and quick!
Deborah – mee too :)
Rebecca – yeah, I wish I had thought of this earlier because I’m all over this stuff!
Graeme – you are right. It would be somewhat unfunny had I killed myself, and you wouldn’t have gotten the squash recipe either ;)
Hillary – there are many things in life that work out like my grapefruit spoon :)
Kevin – since we had seafood for the holidays, any leftovers now would be a frightening scenario complete with visits to the ER! ha ha ha. Roasted garlic is good stuff, hon. You should try it and then incorporate it into as many delicious foods as you can think of ;)
Tanya – we usually manage to clear the leftovers out quickly, but the holidays really do it to ya… and the fridge just fills up with remnants of a happier time.
Ashley – thanks, that’s so sweet of you! It’s doing much better :) I bet it would be amazing if you substituted boursin cheese (mixed with some sort of filler – maybe a grain of sorts or even spinach?) for the goat cheese.
RM – Wow, I can’t believe you’ve never cooked squash before?! Didn’t you ever have neighbors come over with their baseball bat zucchinis begging you to take some because their gardens were overrun with them? But you know, from the stuff you make on your site, I can’t say you’re missing out! My mom usually sauteed the squash with garlic, salt, and oil. Simple side dish.
Elle – ha ha! Thanks, they are both taken care of at the moment ;)
January 5th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I’ve never been a big fan of yellow squash – maybe because I was lazy to remove the seeds, I’m not sure. But, I do think this is a nice way to prepare them.
January 6th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Christine – I ate a lot of zucchini as a kid (stir-fried in garlic). I think yellow squash are similar, but… I rarely ate them. I’m trying to be better about branching out to other vegetables. I really do love them so :)
August 13th, 2008 at 10:34 am
I loved this dish, I made it last night for dinner and it was great!
I also posted on my blog, take a look.
Thanks for sharing so many great recipes!
Rita
August 18th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Rita – awesome! Glad you liked it so much :)
December 13th, 2008 at 4:18 am
I’ve never seen yellow squash that size, I think that’s what I call zucchini, does it have yellow flowers that can be stuffed?
December 17th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
BA – yes, I believe they do.
February 2nd, 2009 at 6:40 pm
I cooked this for a second time tonight, after my entire family just fell in love with the dish, and I just wanted to say thanks. This, and many of your other dishes, have been making it to the top of my recipe list.
February 5th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Luke – oh, you’re so very welcome. I’m delighted that your family enjoyed it and that you do too! Thanks for your very sweet comment.
September 20th, 2011 at 10:37 am
[…] Goat Cheese-Stuffed Squash – Use Real Butter. Looks and sounds delicious! […]
March 28th, 2012 at 3:52 pm
I’m bringing this for Easter Lunch! Can’t wait to try this out.