A pattypan squash is the perfect delivery vehicle for one of my favorite food groups, Stuffing.  We will stuff these beauties with wild rice, fresh veggies, sage, and sausage.  Baked Pattypan Squash with Wild Rice, Sage Brown Butter & Sausage Stuffing.  So while this post started out to be much more about my love of stuffing than my new found fascination with pattypan squash, I think it’s interesting to share a bit of history on the White Scallop Summer Squash aka Pattypan.

It seems this squash variety has been a favorite of Native Americans for hundreds of years and has remained relatively unchanged.  By definition that makes this an “heirloom” squash (meaning they have been around a long, long time and are open-pollinated, not mass produced).  They are part of our edible heritage.  Squash was one of their three main crops, corn and beans being the others.  This trio, referred to as the Three Sisters, was planted together in single mounds.  Corn was used as a ladder to support climbing beans, and the squash grew on the ground between its vertical siblings to provide shade for the mound, keeping the ground moist.

There are wonderful Indian legends written about the Three Sisters, who were all different in their size and appearance.  The youngest, who could only crawl, was dressed in green.  The middle sister had a way of running off when the sun was shining in her face.  And the oldest sister, with her golden hair, stood straight and tall watching over her younger siblings.

My daily drive takes me by several farms with wonderful gardens.  I’ve watched them grow and flourish for months now.  As the corn season wraps up and only the brown stalks remain, the gardens look quite different.  And while I will sadly miss the oldest sister, if I look closely I can often catch a glimpse of her younger siblings dancing in the sun.  This makes me smile.

Remove tops from pattypan squash and scoop out seeds and some flesh making a well for the stuffing, sprinkle insides with salt & pepper.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Bake empty squash loosely covered in baking dish for 20 minutes until their insides are tender when pierced with a fork.  Remove.

Stuffing Ingredients…Ground sausage browned, wild rice, celery, carrot, onion, mushrooms, and sage brown butter.

Sage brown butter: 3 Tbl. butter and 10 fresh sage leaves, sauté until butter is lightly browned, 4 – 5 minutes.  Side note:  sage brown butter has become an insanely sexy flavor for me.  It’s salty and nutty and the sage leaves become crispy.  I think I shall write a cookbook late at night with all sage brown butter recipes….

Combine cooked wild rice with browned sausage, sautéed vegetables, and sage browned butter (reserving 1 Tbl. for drizzle).  Season with sea salt and a generous amount of fresh cracked pepper.  Fill each squash with stuffing.  Grate Parmesan cheese on top of each squash and drizzle with a little more sage butter.  Add 1″ water to baking dish, loosely cover with foil and bake another 30 minutes.  We finished under the broiler to show the stuffing some extra love.

Recipe note:  next time I am going to try pre-boiling the squash instead of baking them.  They never got quite done enough for our liking.  And I think we’ll double the stuffing recipe and nestle it down around the squash when baking instead of the water.  It was the star.

The sage brown butter made the rice go wild and the sausage roar with flavor.  This recipe will find its way into another dish very soon. 

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Baked Pattypan Squash with Wild Rice, Sage Brown Butter & Sausage Stuffing

Course Entree

Servings 2

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 3 medium patty pan squash
• 1/2 lb. ground sausage browned
• 1 cup cooked wild rice prepared according to package directions.
• 1 celery rib diced
• 1 medium carrot diced
• 1 small onion diced
• 4 button mushrooms diced

Sage brown butter

• 3 Tbl. butter
• 10 fresh sage leaves

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Remove tops from 3 medium pattypan squash and scoop out seeds and some flesh making a well for the stuffing.
• Sprinkle insides with salt & pepper.
• Bake empty squash loosely covered in baking dish for 20 minutes until their insides are tender when pierced with a fork.
• Remove.

Sage brown butter

• Melt butter over medium heat, then add 10 fresh sage leaves.
• Sauté until butter is lightly browned, 4 – 5 minutes.

Stuffing

• Sauté vegetables.
• Brown sausage.
• Combine cooked wild rice, browned sausage, vegetables, and sage browned butter (reserving 1 Tbl. for drizzle).
• Season with sea salt and a generous amount of fresh cracked pepper.
• Fill each squash with stuffing.
• Grate Parmesan cheese on top of each squash and drizzle with a little more sage butter.
• Add 1″ water to baking dish, loosely cover with foil.
• Bake an additional 30 minutes.
• Finish under broiler to lightly brown stuffng.

Notes

Patty Pan Squash can also be boiled vs. baked prior to stuffing.

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