We use this general idea for delicata, acorn, kabocha, and butternut squash. With the smaller squashes, each half squash makes a good serving. With the larger ones, we serve them in crosswise slices.

Ingredients:

Winter squash of your choice. Suggested varieties: delicata (pictured), acorn, kabocha, butternut (and its smaller cousin, honey nut). This recipe is for three good sized delicata squashes (about 200-250 gr each). It should also work for a nice chunky (about 1 kg) butternut squash. You can adjust the amount of filling for different types, sizes, or numbers of squash.

Filling. Any filling will work. Here are the ingredients for the filling pictured.

One large red onion.
Five cloves garlic.
One celery stalk.
150 gr button mushrooms.
30 gr dried cepes.
1 heaping tablespoon (about 30 gr) tomato paste.
Cooking oil.
Two eggs.
Half a cup of grated cheese (I used pecorino romano).
Salt, pepper, herbs, spices to taste. I used a sprinkling of za’atar.
300 gr ground meat of your choice. I used a pea protein based fake meat. Obviously, real meat will work just great.

Method

A. Prepare the squashes

Cut the squas(es) in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Place cut side up on a baking dish and bake at 200C (400F) until reasonably soft (a sharp knife goes through the flesh with little effort). The time required will depend on the type of squash; it can be anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes for me.

B. Prepare the filling

1. Soak the cepes (optional) in warm water until it’s time to add them in.
2. Chop the onion, garlic, and celery (optional) into small pieces and saute gently in a bit of oil until the start to soften. I add a little bit of salt to the onions too.
3. Chop the button mushrooms finely. Add them in once the onions start to soften slightly and continue sauteing. You might want to add more oil if the pan looks too dry.
4. Add the meat and saute until it browns a bit. If you want it to brown well, you can saute it first on its own, take it out, and then cook your onions in the drippings.
5. Drain the cepes through cheese cloth and catch the liquid in a bowl. You can squeeze them gently to get more of the liquid. Rinse the solid pieces in case they are dusty, sandy, gritty, etc.
6. Chop the cepes and add them to the saute pan.
7. Thin your tomato paste with a bit of the mushroom soaking liquid (or water) and add that to the saute pan. Also add the rest of the soaking liquid (no need to add extra water if you aren’t using dried mushrooms).
8. Keep cooking until most of the liquid is gone. Turn off the heat and stir in your cheese (optional).
9. Let the mixture cool a little. Beat the eggs lightly and then stir them in. Also stir in any herbs you like.

C. Assemble and bake

1. Take the squashes out of the oven. If you’re using butternut, scoop out the some of the flesh to extend the seed cavity all along the length. Other squashes already have uniform cavity. Chop this squash flesh and mix it into the filling.
2. Distribute the filling evenly between the squash halves. Return to the oven and keep baking until the squashes are very soft and the filling is browned to your liking (perhaps another 20-30 minutes).
3. Serve smaller squashes as they are, larger ones in slices.