There are probably a thousand ways to stuff summer vegetables!
After this announcement, you might recall the "Surprise" cherry tomatoes and wonder if there is a pattern building... Well, too soon to tell (:-)), but I had beautiful round squashes that looked just perfect for being "farcies" (stuffed). I also had vivid memories of squashes stuffed with ground meat from a few (many...) years past, and perhaps a bit like Proust's Madeleine, I wanted to re-create some of that experience, although with a couple of adjustments.
So I lined up some round squashes...
I scooped out their pulp to make room for the stuffing. But I wanted to use that pulp constructively, so I pureed it to add moisture to the stuffing itself, and to use into little savory (gluten-free) muffins that I was going to serve with the stuffed squashes.
Then, I used garlic scape, instead of garlic, since it is still available at the Farmers Market. I have found that only a bit is needed to obtain a mild, satisfying flavor.
I combined the (1 good tbsp or so) chopped scape garlic with a pound of dark turkey meat (perhaps flavored with rosemary), an egg, sea salt and ground pepper, 1 (small) tsp chopped fennel seeds, and 1/2 cup of the pureed squash pulp. I then proceeded to stuff 6 round squashes with the stuffing.
At this point, there were several ways to proceed. I could for example have baked them, or slow braised them. But (a bit on a whim, and a bit because I needed my oven for the muffins!) I decided to steam them. Which, turned out to be just fine!
And there was my Proust moment...
By the way:
- I used about 3/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. This can be reduced as needed or preferred. Salt can always be added later anyway!
- When I made them, it took about 30' for them to be well cooked, though I would advise to check at 20' and leave them to cook as long as necessary from them on.
- They are great hot, but are also delicious cold the next day!
- The fennel seeds worked really well here, but could be replaced with thyme or other flavorful spice of your choice.
- The garlic scape can be replaced with garlic infused oil.