Jambalaya Stuffed Buttercup Squash

I love how my cat gets ridiculously comfortable in my chair.

Stop taking pictures!

I had my favorite breakfast (again) this morning: greek yogurt, honey, and granola with a side of coffee.

 

a few minutes later I had a satsuma

“Tis the season for Louisiana satsumas!

Around 10:30 I had half a clif bar.

At 11:30 I went to the gym. Some guy using an elliptical next to me kept yelling at other people he (hopefully) knew. What a troublemaker!

Lunch was leftover indian food,: chana masala and lamb curry with rice mixed together, and naan.

And raw veggies to cool my mouth.

It was tasty but afterward I wanted to crawl under my desk for a nap.

A couple of days ago I bought a buttercup squash to roast, so I decided to have that for dinner.  If you’ve never had one, they’re smaller than most other fall squash (in my limited knowledge). Here it is next to a medium sized apple.

For the filling I was torn between using cornbread stuffing from a box or making  jambalaya. When I realized I had all the ingredients to make jambalaya that was the deciding factor. Plus in the blog world there have been so many stuffed squash recipes lately (and they all look amazing), I figured a little cajun twist is needed.

Jambalaya Ingredients:

• 1 whole Bell pepper,
• half a large onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 stalks celery
• link of andouille sausage
• chicken (not sure how much)
• a cup of rice (before cooking)
• dash of cajun seasoning

Last night I made a roasted chicken so I had leftover meat from that, and I had a link of andouille in the freezer already chopped up. Yay! I put the chicken and sausage in a pot and let them brown a little together. Then I added the vegetables, and let them soften.  When this had simmered to an acceptable degree, I added 2 cups of water, let it boil, then added rice. I brought the temperature down to a simmer and cooked for 20 –30 minutes. 

Simmering:

 

By the way, this is called a “brown jambalaya” or “cajun style”. From what I’ve seen on various cooking websites, most non-Louisianians are only familiar with “red” jambalaya or “creole” style. The main difference is that creoles add tomatoes and accept shrimp, seafood, and other add-ins. As long as you use the holy trinity you should be golden! 

Here is the finished product:

While the jambalaya was cooking, my  buttercup was placed face down in a shallow dish with a half cup of water at the bottom, and into the oven at 375 for 30 minutes. If I made this again I would go a little longer. The squash fooled me because it was moderately soft, but when I ate it I realized it could’ve used another 20 minutes.

Then I filled this sucker up.  I popped it back in the oven for 5 minutes. I was supposed to let it bake for another 20 minutes, but I was way too hungry for that and I kept picking at the leftover jambalaya.

My plate:

The squash was sweet and tender, like a yam. This would be good roasted with cinnamon too.

I’m going to go do some reading!