This recipe is exclusive to The Happy Foodie
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Max La Manna’s Stuffed Squash Roast Dinner
In this exclusive recipe for The Happy Foodie, Max La Manna shares a vegan Sunday roast centrepiece of roasted squash stuffed with a plant-based sausage mix.
Introduction
Having a roast dinner on a Sunday is a British tradition that I’ve really got on board with, however often when I go out, options are limited to nut roasts- which are delicious, but I love a bit of variation, especially when I’m cooking for friends or family who might usually eat meat at this kind of meal. This stuffed squash came about when I was tasked with cooking a thanksgiving centrepiece, I wanted to make something special, that I could get together in advance to assemble and serve on the day- so I could maximise the time I got to spend with my friends and family on the day. This is super simple to make, and you can roast the squash in advance, making the filling in ahead of time and keeping both in the fridge ready to be cooked the next day. It makes for the ultimate centrepiece. It’s also easy enough that if you so fancy it on a Wednesday night, served with a big fresh salad, it’ll absolutely fit the bill.
Ingredients
| 2 | squash |
| 100g | pearl barley |
| 2 tbsp | olive oil, plus more to coat your squash |
| 3-4 | vegan sausages, I used Beyond Meat |
| 1 | onion, finely chopped |
| 2 | garlic cloves, finely sliced |
| 1 tbsp | fennel seeds |
| 25g | parsley |
| 50g | roasted almonds, roughly chopped |
| 1 | lemon, zest and juice |
| To serve, optional for the roast: | |
|---|---|
| roast potatoes | |
| parsnips | |
| vegan gravy | |
| buttery cabbage | |
| cranberry sauce |
Method
Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan. Slice the squash in half lengthways, remove the seeds (use them to make crispy squash seeds), rub with olive oil and season. Put the squash halves on a roasting tray and roast for 45 mins.
Rinse the pearl barley well in a sieve, then tip into a pan with a big pinch of salt, cover with water and bring to the boil, cook for 30 mins, or until tender.
Heat a tbsp of the olive oil in a large frying pan, squeeze the sausage from its casing and use a spatula to break up in the pan, fry until crispy, then tip into a bowl.
Add the remaining tbsp of olive oil to the pan along with the onion and a pinch of salt, fry for 5 mins until softening, then add the garlic and fennel seeds and fry for a minute further- then tip into the bowl with the sausage meat. Chop the parsley and add to the bowl, drain and rise the pearl barley and add that too. Add the zest and juice of the lemon, along with the almonds, season well and toss everything together.
Remove the squash from the oven, scoop a little of the soft filling from each into the sausage mix- creating a bit more space for stuffing- then spoon the mix into the squash. Roast for 15 mins further.
Serve with all the roast sides of your choosing.
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Exclusive
This recipe is exclusive to The Happy Foodie
