Friday’s Dinner: Acorn Squash with Succotash Stuffing

Here it is, the final installment in a workweek of whole-food, plant-based dinners!

Tonight’s meal was inspired by a purchase I made at my very first produce auction back in September: a half-bushel of acorn squash. Now I’m a big fan of produce auctions, because you can get huge quantities of veggies for ridiculously low prices. But therein lies the conundrum: you get huge quantities of veggies. So you have to get a little creative about finding ways to use them up.

While I’ve been good about working my way through my bargain veg, I still have a startling number of acorn squash lurking in my basement. So I decided to try a new recipe, recommended to me by my friend Stephanie (who, incidentally, has since acquired her own half-bushel of acorn squash): Alton Brown’s overstuffed pattypan squash. Stephanie assured me the recipe would work with acorn squash too, so I decided to go for it.

I’m sure glad I did—the dish was delicious! Although it also turned out to be a hardcore arm workout, as the recipe involved scooping raw acorn squash shells down to a ½-inch thickness—not the easiest of tasks! But the resulting thyme-infused, corn-and-lima-bean stuffing with toasted pecans was well worth it, and Jeff and I each polished off an entire acorn squash. So I think it’s safe to say we liked it.

If you decide to give the recipe a spin, to accommodate the acorn squash I suggest adding more cooking time all around, using two squash, doubling the stuffing recipe, and swapping the olive oil for a quick spritz of cooking spray. Oh, and as Stephanie suggested, I used thawed frozen corn in place of fresh, which worked out swimmingly.

I paired the squash with a quick green salad tossed with tahini dressing, which together made a simple and satisfying end to the week.