Sausage & Rotini Stuffed Acorn Squash

What is better than a meal served in a vegetable? Eating the bowl your dinner comes in is a wonderful treat. This recipe also gives us an opportunity to take our fabulous meat sauce in a totally different direction. We’ve made this several times, initially taking a cue from a recipe by Emeril on foodtv.com... "Baked Acorn Squash Filled with Italian Sausage and Rigatoni Pasta"

Start your basic sausage meat sauce. When you’re all set to put the sauce on simmer, cut 2 acorn squash in half, seed them and place flesh side up in a glass baking dish. Cover the bottom with water and cover the dish with foil. Bake at 375°F for ~ 45’ until just tender. In the meantime, cook up your favorite wheat pasta cutting your portion in half since this is not the main focus of the dish.

Remove squash from oven and drain the water out of the dish. Season the squash with S&P and place about a ½ cup cooked pasta in each squash half and mound with your sausage sauce overflowing the sauce a bit. Top with some shredded mozzarella and return to the hot oven for 15-20’ until cheese has melted and browned a bit. Half a squash is plenty for one serving, so can you say delicious leftovers?!!?!?!? We can!!!