I was so happy when we were finally able to grow squash in our own garden. I love stuffed patty pan squash! This squash filled with zesty sausage and nutty black rice has been a favorite since I first made it in 2012.
I love that I made the decision to start a food blog a little over four years ago. But I’m not the only one that will tell you – the fun has a way of fading to stress from time to time. Pressures of creativity, uniqueness, pretty pictures, and “what if they don’t like me?” can rear their ugly heads.
These are the times when you have to remember that, while we would all like to be wildly successful, it’s important not to lose yourself along the way. This is supposed to be a happy place!
When I stop worrying about numbers and return to why I started blogging, I realize that these are the posts that are visited the most often on my site. I love how this changes from season to season. It reminds me that, yeah, the post I did two years ago does have some value.
Right now the top post on my blog is Patty Pan Squash Stuffed with Basil Orzo. I made it a few years ago after first discovering this veggie. Everyone seems to want advice for how to tackle patty pan’s pretty, yet hard to handle, shape in the kitchen.
I’ve felt challenged to come up with a new stuffing since I made that first patty pan, but here we finally have it. A bonus this time is that the squash came straight from the garden!
I’m continuing the recent trend of using black rice, but with pastured heritage breed sausage, this recipe doesn’t leave out the meat-lovers.
It’s tasty on it’s own, but if you have some warm marinara on hand to spoon on top, it’s even better!
- 4 to 6 patty pan squash
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 lb. ground pastured pork sausage
- 2 yellow bell peppers, chopped
- 1/2 large onion, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups cooked black rice
- 1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
- 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon fine ground sea salt, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
- Marinara for topping (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish lightly with olive oil.
- The recipe will fill 6 small squash or 4 larger squash. Wash the squash. Slice off the top on the stem side, and using a spoon, gently scoop out the insides. Don't scoop all the way through the bottom. You want to create a cup to hold the filling. Chop up the squash you scooped out and set it aside.
- Lightly coat the squash cups in olive oil and pierce with a fork in a few spots. Bake the squash for about 15 minutes, until they begin to soften. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- In a large skillet, brown the sausage over medium-high heat about 5 minutes. Add the bell peppers, onion and the chopped squash you scooped out. Cook until the sausage is no longer pink, 3 to 5 more minutes.
- Stir in the rice, bread crumbs and ricotta into the sausage. Add the salt and pepper. You can taste the filling at this point and add more salt and pepper, if you'd like.
- Once the filling is cool enough to handle, divide it evenly into each squash. Pile it high and press gently with a spoon so that it is packed in.
- Bake for 20 more minutes, or until the squash is tender when pierced with a fork. Top with marinara before serving, if desired.
Thanks for reading! All images and content are the property of Fake Food Free unless otherwise stated. Please do not republish full recipes and images without written permission. What is okay? Feel free to Pin images, share links to my posts or share the photo in a round up post with the title of this recipe and a link back to the post. Confused about copyright and food blogs? Here is some helpful information on Recipe Attribution. If you want to use a photo or full recipe, just ask. I’m sure we can work something out.
