Acorn Squash with Savory Sausage Custard

Our good friends Nate and Kim made us stuffed acorn squash with vegetarian sausage several years ago at a lovely dinner party, served hot from the oven on a chilly Berkshire evening. It was such a delicious dish that when I came across this recipe for Acorn Squash with Savory Sausage Custard, I was immediately reminded of that dinner party and knew I wanted to try this recipe.

The recipe as written serves 6. I trimmed the ingredients by 1/3 to make a dish that serves 4 and used two acorn squash. For the ingredients for 6 servings, feel free to visit the original recipe. This dish takes some time to prepare and cook, so it’s best left for a weekend meal (and not the Thursday after-work dinner that I decided to make).

Acorn Squash with Savory Sausage Custard
(shared from Paleo Table)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 acorn squash
• 2/3 lb Italian sausage
• 1/3 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/3 cups broccoli, finely chopped
• 4 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup unsweetened full-fat coconut milk (RRFR substituted with unsweetened almond milk)
• ¼ tsp paprika
• ¼ tsp dried basil
• dash of cayenne pepper
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Halve squash lengthwise and scoop out the seed and some of the flesh to create a bowl for the filling. Cut a small piece off of the bottom so that the squash cup sits flat on the pan.

Place squash in a large, rimmed baking sheet and rub tops with coconut oil. Cook for 45 minutes or until fork tender. Remove squash from oven.

While squash cooks, brown sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

When a little fat is rendered add the onion and garlic and saute until cooked through, about 4-5 minutes.

Drain fat and stir in broccoli.

Remove pan from the heat.

Whisk egg yolks in a medium bowl.

Add coconut milk and spices and whisk to combine.

Scoop sausage mixture into prepared squash bowls.

Ladle custard over sausage mixture a little at a time until it seeps into the mixture.

Bake for an additional 40 minutes or until top is brown and bubbly.

Nutrition Information: Serves 4. Each serving has 248 calories, 10 g of fat, 14 g of protein, and 5 g of fiber.