Stuffed butternut squash

Butternut halves.

Stuffed butternut squash ensures you are getting plenty of beta-carotene. It can be roasted from start to finish in under an hour; the aim of this site is what we call slow food, made fast. The filling adds a nutty flavour; using an apple, almonds and spinach makes this into a very wholesome and balanced dish.

You could in fact use any squash and another green like kale instead of spinach; better still a mixture of the two.

Ingredients

  • 1 or 2 butternut squash depending on size
  • 1 cup of spinach, washed and deveined
  • 1/2 an onion
  • 1 apple, cored and lightly chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 TBSP of almonds; briefly whir in a blender
  • The chopped pulp of half a lemon
  • 1/2 cup of feta cheese
  • One frond of rosemary or thyme
  • A stick of cinnamon
  • Butter and olive oil

Go for it

  1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
  2. Cut the squash in half, scrape out the seeds and criss-cross the flesh. Roast on a baking tray in the centre of the hot oven, hollowed side down, for 20 minutes.
  3. Flip the squash and drop a chunk of butter into the hollow and dribble the cut surfaces generously with olive oil. Liberally grind black pepper over the whole area, but no salt. That comes later from the feta cheese. Roast for another 15 minutes and then test with a sharp knife that it is cooked.
  4. Meanwhile chop the apple roughly along with the spinach.
  5. Heat a chunk of butter in a pan and, when warm, drop in the rosemary frond, the cinnamon and the onion, sweating it until the bits are translucent. Then turn up the heat to brown, add the spinach and apple and cook for a few minutes longer with the lid on.
  6. Take the baking tray out of the oven, and increase the size of the hollows by scraping out about a cup of the flesh.
  7. Then spoon the squash you have scooped into the mixture in the pan and fry for a further minute or two until it begins to brown. Finally add the garlic.
  8. Stir in the lemon pulp and another chunk of butter and cook for a minute or two.
  9. Spoon the filling into the hollows in the roasted butternut. Break the feta cheese over the filling, and sprinkle the whole with the blended almonds.
  10. Return to the hot oven for about 5 minutes.

Stuffed butternut squash

Stuffed butternut squash is an easy way to roast these beauties. By adding the nutritional virtues of other items like the spinach or kale, the almonds and the feta cheese it is now a delicious whole meal, with plenty of protein, unrefined carbohydrate and healthy fatty acids.

The very special phytochemicals like beta-carotenes and lutein, the folate and a host of minerals turns this into a very appetising, non-fattening meal that will do little to raise your blood glucose. If concerned, take a ten minute walk so the sugars would be turned into glycogen instead of disturbing your insulin output.

Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a pernicious disease caused primarily by obesity. Perhaps your BMI is around 30 or God forbid higher, and you are concerned about starches, and rightly so. Butternut has a low glycemic index of 51 according to Livestrong[1], perhaps a touch higher because it has been roasted, but lowered by the added protein and healthy fats.

Intrinsically butternut and all squash are a very nutritious and beneficial vegetables for everybody; the high fibre content alone that helps keep us regular makes it a star.

If you are overweight, simply have a smaller portion to limit the glycemic load. Avoid foods like this stuffed butternut squash at your peril.

  1. Bernard Preston
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  1. What Is the Glycemic Index of Butternut Squash?

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