RECIPE: Chilli Stuffed Squash

For this dish, I used an Uchiki Kuri squash, grown by Mark. It weighed in at around 800g  and once it had been halved and de-seeded,  made two perfect "bowls" for individual servings, but you could use any squash or pumpkin depending on what is available and how many you want to feed. Butternut squash might not have a big enough cavity but you could scoop some out and set it aside for another dish.

For the filling I  made my "student chilli" that I've been making ever since I was ay University over 40 years ago. I'll share the recipe here but you could use any chilli recipe, whichever is your favourite, as long as you make it quite thick so you can pile it into the squash bowls.

As well as your squash, you will need your chosen chilli, a little oil and about 40g of grated cheese per person.

To make 4 servings of "student chilli" (I've only used two portions for this dish, the other two will be served with jacket potatoes tomorrow).

500g minced beef
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or chopped
1 teaspoon each of dried oregano, ground cumin and chilli powder
1 heaped tablespoon of plain flour
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin red kidney beans, rinsed and drained (other beans such as black beans or pinto beans would work well too)
1 teaspoon of Bovril or other stock concentrate
1 tablespoon of tomato purée
seasoning

Heat the oven to 150 C (130  fan), 300 F, gas mark 2.
Place the meat and onions in a casserole dish that can be heated on the hob. Heat slowly until the fat starts to run and then increase the heat and fry until the meat is browned and the onion softened, then stir in the garlic, oregano, cumin and chilli and cook for 1 minute. reduce the heat to very low and stir in the flour followed by the tinned tomatoes. Fill the tin with water and stir that in too. Blend the stock concentrate and tomato purée in, bring to the boil and then stir in the beans. Cover the dish.
Place in the oven and cook for 2 hours, stirring frequently. If it starts to catch, add a little more water, and if after 2 hours it still has a lot of liquid, remove the lid and cook on the hob until thickened.
Set aside and increase the oven temperature to 220 C (200 fan), 425 F, gas mark 7.

Now prepare the squash - cut it in half and remove the seeds.  Check to see whether the halves sit well on the plate - you may need to trim off a little from the base of each bowl to stabilise it. Brush all over, inside and out, with oil and place on a baking sheet and cook until your squash is tender  but not collapsing. My small squash took about 20 minutes but a big thick pumpkin could take 40 minutes.

Remove from the oven, fill each half with chilli, cover with cheese and return to the oven. Cook for a further 10 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and golden.

I love runner beans with chilli and as there are still a few in the garden, I served those with it, along with a few tortilla chips for added crunch. I also added a wedge of lime to squeeze over the chilli.