But I wanted to add a spooky element to the dish. 

Wait til you see what I did.

Today was our Halloween Luncheon at the office.  It is an annual tradition.  We decorate, dress in costumes, and feast. 

I made a ginormous lasagna and {Shared the Love} with my work-family.  This Classic Lasagna is layered with a rich meaty sauce, plenty of cheese and and lots of love.

Making lasagna is simply a layering process. 

I found it’s best not to be too focused on specifics, just use good ingredients alternately until you build as tall as your pan can stand. 

I will say, you do want to start with a base of sauce and finish with a layer of cheese. 

Oh, and assembly is so much easier when you have all of your ingredients prepared and close at hand.

Assembly

Our Classic Lasagna assembly went something like this:

• Meaty Marinara to cover bottom of lasagna pan
• Layer of lasagna noodles (pre-boiled until al dente)
• Layer of ricotta/egg/parmesan mixture
• Generous sprinkle of shredded mozzarella
• Light layer of béchamel sauce
• Repeat 3-4 more times.
• Finish with shredded mozzarella

The Spooky Effects

While the lasagna baked, I got busy creating my spooky effect. 

I wanted to create the feel of a haunting face rising out of the top of the lasagna.  Hee hee, have I told you how much I love Halloween?!!

I made a double batch of our Italian Meatballs recipe and formed it into Scream’s Ghostface.   Muaaahhhh…..

I baked our giant face-meatball, so that it was fully cooked. 

On it’s own it was pretty spooky, but I had a grand-plan for this guy.

I placed the baked face on top of the baked lasagna, then filled the eyes, nose, and mouth with marinara sauce.  Slightly melted mozzarella cheese to encase the face. 

Then back into the oven to heat through. 

The finished result….

While the ‘raw’ face showed more Scream similarity, this guy delivered enough creepy to be worthy of our annual Halloween Buffet. 

Our Classic Lasagna {with Spooky Effects} was just one of many fabulous dishes shared today.  Two Halloween Buffet tables this year, beautifully decorated by the uber talented Jennica.

As for the costumes.  Always brilliant.  Here are a few standouts and a link to our work Delaney Facebook Page.  We’re a fun group if you’d like to follow along.

Who else loves/hates the movie The Shining.  Gives me shivers.  These two nailed it.  “Come play with us Danny.  Forever….and ever…and ever.”

Don’t forget to follow us @LemonyThyme on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook!

And me.  Fun day at the office.

All my best,
xo Libby

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Classic Lasagna

This classic lasagna is layered with rich meaty sauce, loads of cheese, savory sauce and an element of spooky fun!

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 boxes lasagna noodles 20 noodles

For the meaty sauce layer…

• 120 ounces marinara sauce
• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 1 lb. sweet Italian sausage

For the ricotta layer…

• 1 32- ounce tub ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. garlic & herb seasoning

For the Béchamel sauce…

• 5 Tbl. butter
• 4 Tbl. flour
• 4 cups milk
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

Instructions

For the meaty sauce layer…

• Brown ground beef and Italian sausage (casings removed). Drain; combine with marinara sauce.

For noodle layer…

• Cook lasagna noodles according to package instructions.

For ricotta layer…

• Whisk together ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, eggs and seasoning.

For Béchamel layer…

• Heat milk in a saucepan to just boiling. Melt butter in a medium sauce pan. Whisk in flour; cook for 3 minutes. Add hot milk 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly until incorporated. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and nutmeg.

To assemble…

• Cover bottom of lasagna pan with sauce; then lasagna noodles. Spread ricotta layer; sprinkled with mozzarella cheese and ladle or two of béchamel sauce. Repeat 3-4 more times. Top with mozzarella.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake lasagna for 1 -1 1/2 hours until hot & bubbly. May need to tent loosely with foil if cheese begins to brown. Allow to stand 30 minutes before serving.

For spooky face layer….

• See our Italian Meatball post and get your creative happy on.

The post Classic Lasagna {with a Spooky Effect} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

There are some recipes (curry, masalas, unstuffed cabbage rolls) that are a challenge to picture.  They don’t have the color pop to match their undeniable flavor explosion.  This Farmers Market Unstuffed Cabbage Recipe falls squarely into this category.

I didn’t take pictures of the step-by-step process.  I anticipated the awkward 6th grade photo-like results with crooked bangs, crooked teeth, and mom’s lipstick on my cheek (she knew deep down in her heart…we were ‘looks’ challenged…at this point in our life…we all were).  Thankfully Mom snapped many photos and offered all kinds of assurance that we were swans in a crow pond.  Below, might be a fifth grade pic, but it still fits the bill.

Back to this uber simple, overly delicious recipe.  Fresh ingredients are the first step to delivering a crowd pleasing recipe.  I brought a container of Farmers Market Unstuffed Cabbage Recipe to the office on Monday AND shared it with everyone I could.  My work-mates are the best taste-testers ever.  I made no apologies for this looks challenged, Healthy Choices recipe, as it delivered fresh full flavor.

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Farmers Market Unstuffed Cabbage Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 187kcal

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 4 cups large chopped cabbage
• 2 summer squash sliced
• 1 lb. ground sausage
• 1 carrot sliced
• 1 onion diced
• 1 jalapeno diced
• 3 cups salsa or favorite pasta sauce
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

• In a pot fitted with a steamer basket over 2-inches of simmering water; steam cabbage and squash until crisp tender, 8-10 minutes. Reserve.
• In a large pot or Dutch oven, brown sausage. Remove and reserve. Pour off any fat. Sauté onion, carrot and jalapeno until tender, about 5 minutes.
• Add in steamed cabbage and squash, cooked sausage, and salsa to pot. Heat through. Season with salt & pepper.

Notes

1 1/2 cup serving = 3 WW PTS+

The post Farmers Market Unstuffed Cabbage Recipe appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

If I can deliver you Scotch Eggs but with a soft-boiled center are you in?  Hell, yes!! was the response.  So I got up early that day, did suitable research and enthusiastically jumped into this recipe.

Naughty ingredients, deep fried, served pub food style. While Scotch Eggs are fantastic served warm with a drizzle of Sriracha Mayo, they also become a great next day grab-and-go picnic food.

I chose a pound of hot breakfast sausage to encase our lightly floured soft-boiled eggs (3-4 minute boil, carefully peeled). Then into a classic 3-part breading; flour, egg, seasoned crumbs before a plunge in the fryer.

I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t have a lot of deep fryer experience.  I understand bringing the oil to the right temp, not over crowding the pot, and adjusting cooking times accordingly.  But somehow, fragile soft-boiled eggs, wrapped in pork sausage, then breaded….threw me for a bit of a loop.  Once out of the pool, they looked sun-kissed and gorgeous.  Yet, an instant read thermometer indicated they weren’t quite presentation ready.

We finished our Scotch Eggs in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes before serving.  While I lost the ‘soft’ center eggs I was hoping for, we sliced into amazing.  What a treat.  Clearly not a recipe we’ll create weekly, but a fantastic splurge kind of dish.

Who am I kidding?  This Scotch Eggs with Sriracha Mayo recipe is pure indulgence and worth every last calorie.  Go ahead make their day.

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Scotch Eggs {with Sriracha Mayo}

While Scotch Eggs are fantastic served warm with a drizzle of Sriracha Mayo, they also become a great next day grab-and-go picnic food.

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 5

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

For Scotch Eggs…

• 7 large eggs
• 1 lb. breakfast sausage
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• canola oil for deep frying

For Sriracha Mayo…

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 Tbl. Dijon mustard
• 1-2 tsp. Sriracha sauce or to taste

Instructions

For Scotch Eggs…

• In a medium saucepan, cover 5 eggs with 1-inch cold water. Bring to a boil and continue cooking for 3 minutes. Meanwhile prepare an ice bath. After 3 minutes of boil, remove eggs with a slotted spoon and place in ice bath until cooled. Carefully peel.
• Form sausage into 5 oval shaped patties, about twice the size of an egg.
• Set up a breading station with three bowls. Put flour in one. Beat two remaining eggs in another. Add panko and seasoning to a third bowl.
• Dry peeled eggs, roll them in flour, then place onto sausage patties. Using wet hands (or disposable gloves), shape sausage around egg, being sure egg is completely encased. Then dip into flour, then egg, then panko being sure sausage is completely coated in crumbs. Refrigerate coated eggs while oil comes up to temp.
• In a heavy pot, heat about 2-inches of canola oil to 375 degrees. Working in batches, fry eggs until nicely browned on all sides, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a baking dish and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until instant read thermometer inserted into sausage reads 165 degrees. To serve, slice eggs into quarters, then drizzle with Sriracha Mayo.

For Sriracha Mayo…

• Combine ingredients in a small bowl, then transfer to a squeeze bottle or plastic bag. Drizzle over Scotch Eggs.

The post Scotch Eggs {with Sriracha Mayo} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

I found this yummy Sausage & Fennel Stuffed Pork Roast recipe in my December Food & Wine magazine.  I’ve become a big fan of fennel, especially when combined with fresh herbs and savory aromatics.  It was the stuffing that hooked me on this recipe from the start and the end result was absolutely delicious. 

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Sausage & Fennel Stuffed Pork Roast

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 2 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4 -6

Author Mario Batali via Food & Wine Magazine

Ingredients

• 2 Tbl. olive oil
• 1 onion thinly sliced
• 1 fennel bulb cored and thinly sliced
• 2 Tbl. fennel fronds chopped & reserved
• 1 lbs. sweet Italian sausage removed from casings
• 1 Tbl. fennel seeds
• 1 Tbl. fresh rosemary chopped
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• salt
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 3-4 lb. boneless pork roast butterflied to 1-inch thickness
• 2 red onion peeled and quartered
• butcher’s string

Instructions

• In a large skillet, heat 1 Tbl. olive oil over medium heat. Sauté onion and sliced fennel until softened, about 10 minutes.
• Add the sausage, fennel seeds, rosemary, garlic and pepper. Break up the sausage into small pieces and cook until browned. Season with salt. Transfer mixture to a bowl and let cool. Stir in the eggs and fennel fronds.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Lay pork on work surface. Season with salt & pepper. Spread cooled sausage & fennel mixture over pork. Starting at a long side, roll up the pork. Tie with butcher’s twine at 1-inch spacing. Rub roast with remaining olive oil.
• Place red onions into a baking dish. Place pork roast on top. Bake for 2 hours or until instant read thermometer registers 160 degrees in the center. Baste occasionally with any pan drippings. Allow to rest 15 minutes before slicing. Remove strings and cut into 1-inch thick slices to serve.

The post Sausage & Fennel Stuffed Pork Roast appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Each week I see my foodie friends posting about their latest pizza creations.  Wonderfully unique and delicious toppings on homemade crust.  The homemade crust part was what was holding us back.  Until now.  We dug out the bread machine and forged forward like true pizza experts.

So while our pizza was fabulous (with my favorite toppings of sausage & mushrooms) this post is for all of you who own a bread machine that’s collecting dust.  Break it out and let it do the work.  You can still take credit for the end result.

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Homemade Pizza {Bread Machine Dough}

Prep Time 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings 4 -6

Author The Bread Machine Cookbook III

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 3 Tbl. olive oil
• 1/3 tsp. salt
• 3/4 tsp. sugar
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. yeast
• Favorite pizza toppings and cheeses

Instructions

• Place first 5 ingredients in your bread machine pan. Place yeast in yeast dispenser. Select Dough Mode on your bread machine and start when ready. Our dough mode takes two hours.
• When dough is finished, remove from pan and knead 8-10 times. Divide into two balls and place in mixing bowls coated with cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap. Place bowls in a warm place for 15 minutes. The dough will rise slightly.
• Pour the dough out onto a clean surface and flatten into pizza sized circles or squares. Do not over work it at this point. Prick the dough several times and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
• Transfer to pizza stone or pan and proceed with favorite toppings. We chose marinara sauce, cooked sausage, sautéed mushrooms, fresh basil, and mozzarella cheese.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Bake for 12 – 18 minutes, depending on thickness of crust.

Notes

This recipe makes two 12-inch pizzas with fairly thick crust.

The post Homemade Pizza {Bread Machine Dough} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Mushroom, Sausage & Sage Quinoa Stuffing.

I could make a meal out of stuffing.  In fact I’m sure I have on more than one occasion.  This particular recipe was exceptional.  It had some key ingredients like lots of celery, carrots, and onion.  But it also had some special flavor boosting components.

To begin I browned off some ground sausage, followed by sliced mushrooms and set them aside.  Next came a good amount of butter and a few sprigs of fresh sage and thyme.  I allowed the herbs to infuse the butter before adding lots of diced carrots, onion, and celery.  Once they were tender I added in some minced garlic and sautéed for another minute.

Because we make roast chicken dinners nearly every week we always have tubs of frozen chicken stock in the freezer.  I thawed about 4 cups of broth and added it to our veggie mixture to come to a boil.  At that point turned off the heat, removed the sprigs of sage and thyme, and added in my cubed crusty bread.  Voila stuffing.

It was good, really good.  Yet there was no reason not to include a couple cups of cooked quinoa that was taking up space in the fridge.  It became great, really great.  Voila great stuffing.

Mushroom, Sausage & Sage Quinoa Stuffing.  There’s a chicken waiting for you.

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Mushroom, Sausage & Sage Quinoa Stuffing

Prep Time 35 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. ground pork sausage
• 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
• 4 Tbl. butter
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 sprigs fresh sage
• 1 large onion diced
• 2 carrots diced
• 3 celery ribs diced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 multi-grain baguette large cubed & toasted (about 5 cups)
• 2 cups cooked quinoa prepared according to package instructions
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Slice baguette into 1-inch cubes. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Test for crunch and bake an addition 5-10 minutes if necessary.
• Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, brown sausage and remove to drain. Add mushrooms and allow to caramelize over medium heat for 8-10 minutes. Reserve with sausage.
• Add butter and herb sprigs to pan over low heat; sauté for 5 minutes. Add onion, carrots, and celery to pan and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes.
• Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and remove herb sprigs. Gently fold in toasted bread cubes and cooked quinoa. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
• Pour stuffing into a 2 quart buttered casserole or use to stuff a whole roasting chicken.
• If serving as a casserole, bake stuffing at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. If stuffing a chicken, see recipe link in post.

The post Mushroom, Sausage & Sage Quinoa Stuffing appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Sometimes an Easy Cheesy Breakfast Casserole is all you need.

With a cup of coffee.

Recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker.  She gets me.

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Easy Cheesy Breakfast Casserole

Servings 6

Author Betty Crocker

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground sausage
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1 can diced mild green chiles or 1 jalapeno fine diced
• 2 cups shredded hash brown potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup Bisquick
• black pepper

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9″ pie plate or casserole dish. In a medium skillet, sauté onion, chiles, and sausage until sausage is cooked through and no longer pink. Drain. Combine sausage mixture with hash brown potatoes and 1 cup shredded cheese. Pour into casserole dish.
• Whisk together eggs, milk, Bisquick, and pepper. Pour over sausage mixture.
• Bake uncovered for 30 – 35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Sprinkle 1/2 cup shredded cheese on top and bake an additional 2-3 minutes until cheese has melted. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

I chose to make my Easy Cheesy Breakfast Casserole in a ‘Casserole’ dish, which increased the cooking time due to the thickness (40 – 45 minutes).

The post Easy Cheesy Breakfast Casserole appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Earlier in the week, we began discussing what we would cook on Super Bowl Sunday.  All the foodie websites and fb pages were alive with recipe ideas and exchanges.  The possibilities ranged from good old favorites like wings and nachos to the more exotic Salmon Wraps and Filipino Spring Rolls.  I had every intention of hosting a virtual Super Bowl Party on my fb page, even planned a week of recipes and posts centered around that theme.  But when it came time to make the announcement….we took it in a totally different direction.  Here is the Party Announcement I shared on our fb page.

Approaching a mega-Milestone {1500 Likes} we’re thinking about hosting a party!!  With the Super Event of the Year upon us, it’s only fitting that we host a …. Groundhog Day Party!!  Beginning tomorrow afternoon throughout Saturday, February 2nd aka Groundhog Day aka a Sausage Celebration we will be sharing your sausage recipes.  I recognize not everyone embraces pork fat in the same way…so if you have an adversity to ground hog, please share your favorite ‘ground meat’ recipes.  Everyone is welcome.

And what a party we had.  200+ new friends and over 30 tasty recipes shared.  I think we should make this an annual event…we’ll call it Ground Hog Day!!

Just so happens, and thanks to my friend Cindy, we had a little ground hog in our freezer patiently waiting for just such an occasion.  To be precise, Sweet Italian Wild Hog Sausage that Cindy made herself.  And it was fabulous.  We cooked mini-patties first so we could taste the sausage on it’s own.  It was sweet with the perfect balance of flavors.  I am so impressed with this lady in many ways, and even more so now.  We built a Stromboli around this star ingredient, and called it Sausage, Peppers & Caramelized Onion Stromboli {a Groundhog Day Treat}.  And while those were the key ingredients we also added mushrooms, baby kale & spinach, and cheese(s) and wrapped it in puff pastry.

Puff Pastry comes folded in thirds making Stromboli wrapping a cinch!  Unfold thawed sheets onto parchment paper.  Using a small pairing knife, cut strips into the left and right side thirds at a slight angle as shown above.  Lay filling onto the middle third, then ‘wrap’ the filling by alternately criss-crossing strips from each side.  Once wrapped, lightly brush top with beaten egg/water.

Our Sausage, Peppers & Caramelized Onion Stromboli had a great combination of flavorful ingredients and spice.  This recipe could easily be changed up by using sliced Italian meats and cheeses with roasted red peppers or loading it with shredded buffalo chicken or how about Eggplant Parmesan Stromboli.  The wheels are spinning after enjoying this delicious dish.

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Sausage, Peppers & Caramelized Onion Stromboli {a Groundhog Day Treat}

Course Appetizer, Entree

Cuisine Italian

Servings 6

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. Pepperidge Farm Frozen Puff Pastry Sheets 2 sheets
• 2 Tbl. olive oil divided
• 1 lb. ground Italian Sausage
• 1 red or yellow sweet pepper small dice
• 2-3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 large onion sliced
• 4 oz. mushrooms sliced
• 2-3 generous handfuls of baby greens such as kale & spinach
• 1 cup grated cheese such as cheddar or Gruyere
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes or to taste
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbl. water

Instructions

• Thaw Puff Pastry according to package instructions.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line shallow baking pan with parchment paper.

To make the filling…

• In a dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot, add 1 Tbl. olive oil and caramelize onions, stirring only occasionally over medium-low heat, about 15 minutes. Add in sliced mushrooms and thyme and continue cooking about another 7-10 minutes until mixture is browned nicely. Set aside.
• In the meantime, add 1 Tbl. olive oil to large skillet and brown sausage, then add in diced peppers, garlic, red pepper flakes, and cayenne and continue to cook until peppers are tender. Add sausage mixture to caramelized onions and mushrooms. Return to low heat, add in the baby greens and grated cheese stirring to combine. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

To make the Stromboli…

• Unfold and lay each thawed pastry sheet on parchment paper. The sheet will be creased in thirds. With a small pairing knife cut strips into the left and right side thirds at a slight angle (as shown in recipe post picture). Lay half of the filling onto the center third, then ‘wrap’ the filling by alternately overlapping strips from either side. Repeat with second pastry and filling.
• Once wrapped, beat egg with 1 Tbl. water and lightly brush top of each Stromboli.
• Bake for 30 minutes until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Allow to cool 5 minutes before slicing.

The post Sausage, Peppers & Caramelized Onion Stromboli {a Groundhog Day Treat} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

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.

The post Baked Pattypan Squash {with Wild Rice, Sage Brown Butter & Sausage Stuffing} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.