Baked Squash, stuffed with leeks

Eli & I eat quite a bit of squash as she’s a bit of a squash fiend, and this time of year is perfect with all the different types of squash available to cook with. Like most folk, we tend to cook with butternut squash, making soups and pastas mostly but this recipe is something new we’ve tried this week and we absolutely love it, so we thought we’d share. It’s a great winter warmer and is surprisingly filling.

Baked Squash, stuffed with leeks

What you need;

• 2 squash (we have used Harlequin Squash but you can use whatever you like)
• 2 Large leeks, thinly sliced
• 40g Butter
• 90 grams of Gruyere cheese – grated
• 3 tblsp Crème fraiche
• 2tsp English mustard

Cook Time 45 mins – 1 hour

Servings Serves 2

• Pre heat your oven to 185 degrees – we’re going to bake the squashes for 45mins to an hour.
• First thing you need to do is to cut the tops off the squash, these make your little lids to cover the squash and it’s filling while you bake them in the oven. You might also need to cut a small piece off the bottom as you want the squash to be able to stand up a bit like a large bowl.
• Once you’ve cut the tops off and saved them for later, take a spoon and begin scraping out the seeds and fibres parts on the inside. You aren’t trying to hollow the squash out, just remove the seeds and less edible part. All that lovely squash flesh is going to roast in the oven and will taste great so don’t take too much out.
• Now put them onto a baking tray ready to go into the oven.
• For the filling, finely chop the leeks and gently soften them in the butter, you want them softened but not coloured as you want to keep the sweet flavour. When they are ready, transfer them to a bowl and allow them to cool a little before adding the mustard, crème fraiche and cheese and mixing it all together. This is the point to add your salt and pepper and check how it tastes. Add the filling to the squashes evenly and then replace the little tops you cut off earlier.
• Put the squashes into the oven and let them bake for between 45 mins and an hour until they are soft on the inside and the skin is crispy on the outside.
• Serve these piping hot with some nice bread and butter.

A perfect winter warmer inspired by a River Cottage cook book.