Meatball Minestrone Soup

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meatball minestrone soup

This is my twist on the classic minestrone soup. I decided to add meatballs to the soup to turn it into a heartier one pot meals because it’s February and we all need some comfort. I decided to keep the soup vegetarian by substituting Beyond Ground Beef for regular ground beef. You can also use it in chili and my vegetarian meaty lasagna, This was my first time using it to make meatballs. The results were excellent. They were tender and moist.

The usual meatball binders, of egg and breadcrumbs were employed, along with lots of finely diced onion to add moisture. For spice, I added ground fennel seed and lots of Aleppo pepper. I used a mini meatball scoop to form them and baked them in the oven while the soup was cooking.

scoop meatballs for even size

Tips for success:

  • Yes, there are are lots of ingredients. Don’t let this scare you. This is not a weekday soup recipe. Set aside some time on the weekend, put on some music or a podcast or binge some old episodes of Top Chef, and get chopping. I like to chop everything before I start cooking. Then I know I won’t forget any ingredients.You will be rewarded with a big hug in a bowl.
  • The ingredients are very customizable. The basics include a mirepoix (carrots, onions and celery), but the additional vegetables could be whatever is seasonal or you just happen to have hanging around in your fridge. I used butternut squash, zucchini and red potato.
  • When sautéing your mirepoix, keep the heat on medium. You don’t want to brown the veggies at this point, you’re just looking to soften them. If they start to stick to the bottom of the pot or get too dark, add about 1/4 cup of water to slow things down.
  • I added kale, but feel free to use spinach or any other hearty green. For the pasta, you want a small shape, like macaroni, orecchiette, small shells or ditalini.
  • Don’t rush the cooking/browning of the tomato paste. You really want the tomato paste to get dark brown. There is a ton of flavour and umami in tomato paste and we want to take advantage of that by browning to develop those deep rich flavours.
  • If you’re not saving your parmesan rinds, after you’ve grated all the cheese, start now. Throw them in a bag in the freezer and add a rind or two of Parmesan cheese to the simmering soup. Parmesan is packed with umami. The savoury flavour of the cheese will enrich your soup.
  • Just before serving stir in about a Tablespoon of sherry or red wine vinegar. This tiny bit of acid wakes the sop up.

Watch how the soup comes together in this video.

Meatball Minestrone Soup

saltandserenity
This is my twist on a classic minestrone soup. The addition of meatballs makes it a hearty, comforting one pot meal. I used a plant-based ground beef (Beyond Ground Beef) to make my meatballs and was thrilled with the results. The meatballs were tender and moist.
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Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Course Soup
Servings 6
Calories 459 kcal

Ingredients
  

Meatballs

  • 1 pound ground beef or plant-based ground beef
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic finelyminced or grated on microplane
  • 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 Tablespoons milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt or 1/4 teaspoon Morton's Kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup Italian parsley leaves finely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel seed
  • 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper or ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Soup

  • 2 large carrots peeled and chopped into ¼ inch pieces
  • 2 ribs celery peeled and chopped into ¼ inch pieces
  • 1 large yellow onion peeled and diced into ¼ inch pieces
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper or ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt or ½ teaspoon Morton’s Kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 28 ounce can of crushed or diced Italian plum tomatoes with juices
  • 5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
  • 1 medium red potato washed and diced into ½ inch pieces
  • 1/2 small butternut squash peeled and diced into ½ inch pieces
  • 1 small zucchini peeled and diced into ½ inch pieces
  • 1 rind Parmesan cheese
  • 1 15 ounce can of white beans drained and rinsed
  • 1 pound black kale (also known as Lacinato, Dinosaur or Tuscan kale) center ribs removed, and leaves sliced into thin julienne strips
  • 1 cup dried small pasta, (shells or orecchiette)
  • 1 Tablespoon red wine or sherry vinegar

For Serving

  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.Place all meatball ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Using your clean hands, gently mix until well combined. Form small meatballs, using either a Tablespoon measure or a 1¼ inch mini scooper and arrange on baking sheet. Roast meatballs for 18-20 minutes until meatballs are well browned. Remove from oven and set aside.
  • While meatballs are roasting, heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add carrots, celery and onion and sauté over medium heat for 6-8 minutes. If veggies start to burn or brown too quickly, add ¼ cup water to pan and continue cooking until veggies have softened and become translucent.
  • Add tomato paste and stir well, until all the vegetables are coated in the tomato paste. Cook for an additional 4-5 minutes until everything is well browned. There is flavour in the brown, you are developing deep flavours here. Add Aleppo, oregano, thyme, bay leaves, salt, and pepper and stir well.
  • Add canned tomatoes and stock. Stir well, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add potatoes, squash, zucchini, and Parmesan rind. Increase heat to high and bring mixture to a boil. Once boiling, turn down to simmer, partially cover the pot and simmer soup for 15-20 minutes, until potatoes and squash are tender.
  • Remove lid, add beans and pasta and simmer, uncovered for an additional 15 minutes. Add kale and meatballs and simmer for another 5 minutes, until pasta is cooked. Remove bay leaves and Parmesan rind and discard.
  • Just before serving, stir in 1 Tablespoon vinegar.
  • Ladle soup into bowls and top with grated parmesan cheese.

Nutrition

Calories: 459kcalCarbohydrates: 44gProtein: 25gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 90mgSodium: 1772mgPotassium: 1307mgFiber: 8gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 19399IUVitamin C: 101mgCalcium: 374mgIron: 5mg
Keyword comfort soups, hearty winter soup, Main dish soups, Meatball Minestrone, Minestrone Soup, One pot meals
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Harissa Salmon with Pistachio Pangrattato Crumb

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Even though I’m a food blogger, when it comes to dinner, I fall into a rut just like everyone else, making the same things every week. For years the only salmon recipe I made was salmon with a chipotle honey lime glaze. It was delicious but it was time to change things up.

A pangrattato is the process of making toasted breadcrumbs, using stale bread, olive oil and some seasonings, usually salt and garlic. It’s known as the poor man’s parmesan and is quite popular in in southern Italy where they use it as a topping for pasta. My version adds some pistachios, lemon zest and dill and I use it to top salmon before baking.

Watch it all come together.

I used a mix of mayonnaise and harissa paste as the “glue” to make sure the breadcrumb topping really sticks to the fish. I love the signature harissa paste from NY Shuk. It has the perfect hit of heat.

Since the salmon is baked in the oven, I decided to make this salmon recipe a sheet pan dinner. I added broccoli and cherry tomatoes. Peel the woody broccoli stems and then cut the broccoli from crown to stem, to make planks. The flat surface of the planks, gives you more surface area that comes into contact with the pan, allowing the broccoli to crisp up better.

The balance of different textures of this dish really enhances the eating experience. The rich buttery flavour and tender texture of the salmon contrasts so perfectly with the crunchy pistachio breadcrumb topping. The harissa paste adds a welcome hit of heat and acid. Add this to your dinner rotation. You’ll thank me.

Click here to print recipe for Harissa Salmon with Pistachio Pangrattato Crumb.

Jim Lahey’s No Knead Bread

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The last time I wrote about this no knead bread was in 2011. I decided the video and photos in that post needed a bit of an update. The recipe remains almost exactly the same though. This is a recipe that has stood the test of time. Mark Bittman wrote about Jim Layhey’s revolutionary no-knead bread in 2006!

It’s possible to make bread dough without kneading. There are 2 major factors at play here that help create this wonderful bread. The first is mixing up a very wet dough and letting it sit, at room temperature for 18 hours. Food scientist, Harold McGee, explained it like this, to Bittman,

“It makes sense. The long, slow rise does over hours what intensive kneading does in minutes: it brings the gluten molecules into side-by-side alignment to maximize their opportunity to bind to each other and produce a strong, elastic network. The wetness of the dough is an important piece of this because the gluten molecules are more mobile in a high proportion of water, and so can move into alignment easier and faster than if the dough were stiff.”

The second major factor involved in making this bread is where Jim Lahey’s real genius comes into play. He discovered that by baking the bread in a covered preheated cast iron or enamel pot (like a Le Creuset), you mimic the steam ovens that professional bakers use to develop that crisp crackling crust so desirable on artisan breads.

During my 18 month journey through the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, I tried all sorts of methods to produce steam in my home oven. I put a pan of hot water at the bottom of the oven, I sprayed the sides of my oven wall with a plant mister during baking, I added ice cubes to the oven during the baking process and I even tried adding lava rocks to the pan of hot water, to mimic a sauna. I never did achieve that holy grail of crackling crust.

Here are a few tips for success:

  • This is a very wet dough. It’s important to mix it well and make sure there are no dry bits of flour anywhere in the bowl before you cover it up for the 18 hour rest period.
  • When you are ready to form the loaf, liberally flour the work surface and wet your hands to prevent the dough from sticking. A flexible dough scraper will be a helpful tool to use.
  • In the original recipe, Jim says to just form the dough into a ball and place it on a cotton towel, cover it and let rise. I found that placing it in a special bread rising basket (a banneton) helped this very wet dough hold it’s shape much better. A banneton is woven bread mold, usually made of made of cane and is used to form and shape artisan loaves during the proofing/raising stage. The basket imprints its shape and ribbed design on the finished loaf. You can also just line a colander with a clean cotton towel, although you won’t get the cool design on your bread.
  • You need to heavily flour the banneton or towel you line your bowl with so it does not stick. I used rice flour. Rice flour is like teflon for sourdough, ensuring that it doesn’t stick to the banneton during proofing.
  • Use a lame or sharp knife to cut a shallow slit into the top of the bread before baking. This will allow the steam to escape from the bread in a controlled fashion when baking
  • A few words about the pot to cook the dough in. Just about any covered 6-8 quart covered pot will work here. Cast iron or enameled cast iron (like Le Creuset) work very well for this job. The pot and lid need to be preheated in a 450°F oven for at least 30 minutes before transferring bread into the pot. I have revised the original recipe to allow you to use parchment paper to help you get the dough into the hot pot more safely. (watch the video at the beginning of this post to see)
  • The bread is done when an instant read thermometer, inserted into the center, registers 200°F-205°F. For optimum texture, be patient and allow bread cool on a wire rack for at least 2 hours before slicing.

Jim Lahey’s No Knead Bread

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Servings 12 slices
Calories 130 kcal

Equipment

  • 6-to 8-quart heavy covered pot, cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic

Ingredients
  

  • 430 grams bread flour
  • 1 gram instant yeast a generous 1/4 teaspoon
  • 10 grams Diamond Crystal Kosher salt or 5 grams Morton's Kosher salt
  • 345 grams water room temperature
  • Additional bread flour for dusting surface of counter
  • Rice flour for dusting banneton or towel for proofing dough

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, and salt. Add water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Just make sure there are no bits of dry flour. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or tea towel. Let dough rest at least 12hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
  • Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface. Wet your hands and scrape the dough out of the bowl onto the floured counter. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice, sort of like folding a letter into thirds. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or towel and let rest about 15 minutes.
  • Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball, pinching to keep the seam closed. If you have a banneton, (bread proofing basket) dust it well with rice flour and shake out excess. If you do not have a banneton, line a small colander with a cotton towel (not terrycloth) and dust well with rice flour. Put dough seam side up into banneton or towel lined colander and dust with more flour. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
  • At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450°F. Put a 6-8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. Take a sheet of parchment paper, about 12 inches square and crinkle it up. Use your hands to smooth it out. Get a baking sheet or small cutting board ready.
  • When dough is ready, put on oven mitts and carefully remove pot from oven. Uncover bread. Place sheet of parchment paper over the colander or baneton. Cover with cutting board or upside-down baking sheet and flip the entire thing over. Lift off banneton or colander. Use a lame or sharp knife to cut a shallow slit into the top of the bread. This will allow the steam to escape from the bread in a controlled fashion when baking. Remove pot lid. Lift edges of parchment and carefully transfer bread into pot.
  • Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned, and internal temperature of bread reaches 200°F. Cool on a rack for several hours before slicing.
     

Nutrition

Serving: 56gramsCalories: 130kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 4gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0.1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.1gSodium: 325mgPotassium: 37mgFiber: 1gSugar: 0.1gVitamin A: 1IUCalcium: 6mgIron: 0.3mg
Keyword no knead bread
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Cauliflower, Leek and White Bean Soup

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While I don’t practice “Dry January”, I am a big proponent of “Gentle January”. I do not rush boldly into the new year, filled with resolutions and plans. I prefer to ease in 2024 slowly. I struggle with transitions and I like to take my time adjusting to a new year.

This soup is the perfect way to ease into 2024. It’s a lighter twist on a classic Leek and Potato Soup (vichyssoise). I have replaced the potato with cauliflower.

But you won’t miss the richness of the original soup because I have added white beans for body and protein. I like to roast the cauliflower to get that caramelized flavour. Cauliflower is a blank, bland canvas, so it can really take some bold seasoning. I went with Aleppo pepper (a fruitier, more gentle heat than red pepper flakes), and some earthy cumin. Since this is a pureed soup, save a few of the prettier roasted florets to garnish the top of the soup after roasting.

Leeks add a mild, delicate flavour to the soup, much less intense than regular onions. I love the flavour.

Cleaning leeks can be a bit tricky if you have never done it before. They are usually quite sandy, as they grow below ground. I find it’s easier to slice the leeks into thin slices and then submerge the slices in cold water to remove the sand. Check out how I do it in the video.

I garnished the soup with some roasted cauliflower, toasted pumpkin seeds and some chive oil. I have included the recipe for making your own. It’s such a pretty colour and really finishes off the soup. If you don’t feel like making it, a drizzle of some good quality extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of fresh chives would also be delicious. Not optional is the final mix in of a tablespoon of sherry or red wine vinegar. It really wakes up the soup.

Click here to print recipe for Cauliflower, Leek and White Bean Soup.

Raspberry Glazed Brown Sugar Snowflake Cookies

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There are some very skilled cookie decorators out there creating stunning piped holiday sugar cookies. I’m looking at you @arloscookies, @nm_meiyee, and @constellationinstallation. No matter how hard I practice, I will never reach those heights and I’m ok with that. I am in awe of their talent and love to look at their gorgeous creations.

While I love the look of intricately piped sugar cookies, I find the taste of royal icing too cloying. These raspberry glazed snowflake sugar cookies are the perfect solution for beautiful and delicious sugar cookies. Watch how they come together.

The dough is made with brown sugar, which creates a chewy cookie. All the decorations are done with a wooden cookie stamp from @fancyfoodtools. This is the one I bought.

Not all wooden cookie stamps are created equal. Make sure you buy one that has deep enough grooves, so that when you bake the cookies, and they rise, the design will still be as sharp after baking. Roll the cookies in granulated sugar before stamping. The sugar ensures that the cookies will not stick to the stamp.

The glaze for these cookies is made with icing sugar, lemon juice and freeze dried raspberries. There is no artificial food colouring in them. The freeze dried raspberries must be ground up in a food processor or spice grinder. I like to put the ground berries through a fine mesh sieve, to strain out the seeds.

You want the glaze to be quite thin for dipping.

Once dipped, the glaze will take about an hour to set.

Click here to print recipe for Raspberry Glazed Brown Sugar Snowflake Cookies.

Holiday Cookies 2023

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This year’s holiday roundup is probably my prettiest and most delicious ever. I made all my favourites for gifting. Cookies are my love language and I love to share them. I enjoy the entire process of gifting, from baking to sourcing packaging, and designing and choosing the fonts for the labels.

Here are the links to all the recipes:

These adorable gingerbread cookie boxes are from karentology I preordered them in August as soon as I saw them.

I like to package each kind of cookie in a separate bag. These flat bottom cello bags are perfect for keeping cookies fresh.

I invested in a bag sealer many years ago. It just makes your cookies look so professional.

I label each kind of cookie. I really like these Avery kraft brown labels. They let the cookie be the star. Avery labels have a great free online design program that is simple to use.

Caramel Stuffed Ginger Crinkle Cookies

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I first learned about Ginger Crinkle Cookies from my friend Lanie. She baked me a big batch and brought them to my cottage many years ago. I was instantly smitten. Crispy at the edges and chewy in the center, intensely flavoured with ginger and cinnamon. Typically, I have always though of ginger cookies as a winter Christmas type of cookie, but surprisingly, she found the recipe in the “Kosher Palette” cookbook. They make an excellent summer cookie too, especially when you sandwich some salted caramel ice cream between two of them!

Over the years I have tinkered with the recipe and had the idea to stuff the center of them with some chewy caramel. It took a while to get the right caramel for the stuffing. I first tried Kraft caramels but they hardened after baking and cooking and didn’t give me the chewy center. I made my own caramel, which was outstanding, but way too much work. Then I tried Werther’s Original Chewy Caramels. They stay chewy even after the cookies cool. I also put them through the freezer test and once thawed, the caramel stays chewy.

Check out this video to see how they come together.

Here are a few tips to ensure success:

  • Use a cookie scoop to ensure consistent size and even baking. I use this one. It has a one ounce (2 Tablespoon) capacity.
  • Spray your measuring cup with a bit of non-stick cooking spray before measuring and pouring the molasses. It will glide right out. You can do this for measuring anything sticky, like peanut butter or honey.
  • Roll the scoped cookies in coarse sanding sugar. The texture of the coarse sugar is what gives the cookies their characteristic crinkle top. If you’re in Canada, Bulk Barn carries it.
  • The Werther’s caramels are rectangular shaped. Before stuffing the cookies, twist them so they are more circular in shape. This will prevent oozing.
  • I like to top each cookie with additional caramel to give a visual cue as to what type of cookie you will be eating. After a bit of experimenting, I found that about 1/3 of a caramel, placed on top, halfway through the baking time, yielded the best results. A sharp scissors was best for cutting the caramels.
  • As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, use a round cookie cutter, larger than the cookies, to give a little “scoot” to even out the shape and have picture perfect round cookies. I learned this trick from Erin over at cloudykitchen.

Click here to print recipe for Caramel Stuffed Ginger Crinkle Cookies.

Savoury Apple Galette with Caramelized Shallots and Brown Butter Pastry Crust

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I still had a few of these beautiful Lucy Rose apples in the fridge after creating this Kale and Apple Salad so I decided to bake a savoury apple galette this week. I paired the apples with caramelized shallots and Gruyere and Fontina cheese. This galette is in the running for the best thing I’ve baked this year. Honeycrisp apples are a perfect substitute if you can’t find Lucy Rose apples. They are elusive. It took me 5 years to find them in Ottawa.

I’ve really been into baking with brown butter lately, so I made a brown butter pastry crust, using a fantastic recipe from King Arthur baking. Brown butter is the secret sauce of baked goods. It amplifies all the flavours. It adds depth, richness and a nutty caramel flavour. Browning butter is not difficult, but you do need to allow some time to brown and then chill it, before making the dough.

Butter is composed of butterfat, milk protein and water. When you brown butter, you are essentially toasting the milk protein. As you heat the butter, and it begins to bubble and sputter away, the water evaporates and the hot butterfat begins to cook the milk solids, turning them from creamy yellow to a splendid speckled brown colour and your whole kitchen smells like toasted hazelnuts. It’s insanely gorgeous!

For the savoury part of the galette, I chose shallots. I prefer their more delicate flavour to onions. Caramelizing the shallots takes time and patience. Turn the heat to medium low and don’t rush it. If the shallots start getting too brown before they are tender, splash in about 1/4 cup of water to slow things down. Choose a good melting cheese. Cheddar, gruyere, or fontina are all good choices.

Watch how it all comes together.

Once the galette comes out of the oven, brush the apples with some warmed apricot or apple jelly, for shine and a hit of extra sweetness. The galette is delicious warm or at room temperature. Buttery flaky crust gives way to salty gooey cheese, savoury shallots and sweet apples. It’s the perfect balance of flavour and texture. Brushing the crust with dijon gives a bit of a tang to help balance out the sweetness of the apples.

Click here to print recipe for Savoury Apple Galette with Caramelized Shallots and Brown Butter Pastry.

Kale, Apple and Brussels Sprouts Salad

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If you had told me a few years ago that I would actually crave a kale salad, I would have thought you were crazy. I used to hate kale. It made my throat itchy.

Apparently, I was doing it all wrong. I was buying curly kale, and using it raw, in salads. Curly kale is best for blending into smoothies or sauteeing, stews and soups, where the heat can mellow it’s bitter bite.

For eating raw, Tuscan Kale (aka Lacinato Kale or Dinosaur Kale or Cavalo Nero/Black Kale) is a better choice. It is a bit more tender than the curly variety and the flavour, while still quite earthy, has an almost nutty sweetness. You need to remove the stems, slice it quite thin and let it sit in the dressing for about 10 minutes before serving. That will help to tenderize the leaves.

Since discovering Tuscan kale, I now crave it. I have made this salad a few times this month. Last time I made it I added some raw shredded Brussels sprouts for extra crunch. (Not shown in video). Highly recommend the addition.

The dressing for this salad is a spiced apple cider vinaigrette. I got the dressing recipe from thecozyapron.com. A few pinches of cinnamon, curry powder and cumin create a wonderful depth of flavour that really holds up under the weight of the kale and sprouts. Gouda cheese adds a richness and the spiced nuts add crunch, an essential component of any salad as far as I’m concerned.

The apples I used in this salad have a surprising pink flesh. They are called Lucy Rose. I have been seeing them on Instagram for a few years now and became obsessed with finding them in real life. I finally found them last week at Hintonburg market in Ottawa.

They are a cross between a Honeycrisp and Airlie apple. They have a sweet-tart taste with a crunchy texture, very similar to a Honeycrisp. While they are quite dramatic, the salad will still be delicious with a Honeycrisp apple.

Click here to print recipe for Kale Apple and Brussels Sprouts Salad with Spiced Vinaigrette.

Kale and Sausage Stuffed Squash

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It’s finally sweater weather here in Ottawa, so I’m leaning hard into this stuffed squash recipe. I’m not normally a fan of stuffed vegetables. It always seems like too much work for too little flavour payoff. But this kale and sausage stuffed squash really delivered big with taste and comfort. These were inspired by Lena Abraham’s recipe on delish.com.

The squash needs to be roasted before stuffing. I made this with acorn squash, but it would also be delicious with honeynut squash (mini butternuts), delicata squash or sweet dumplings. The skin on most of these small squash get quite tender with roasting, so they are completely edible.

While the squash is roasting, make the filling. This recipe is infinitely customizable. Start with the carbohydrate element. Farro, barley, rice, wheat berries, freekeh or Israeli couscous can be used. You could cook them in water, vegetable or chicken stock, but try using apple cider as Lena did. I simmered some Israeli couscous in apple cider and added a big splash of apple cider vinegar to balance out all that sweetness.

Next select your aromatics. Shallots, onions, garlic, leeks are all good choices. Celery is a traditional stuffing ingredient for good reason. It adds great taste and texture.

To bulk the stuffing up you can add ground meat of some kind (beef, turkey, chicken or lamb) or some spicy sausage. I used a plant based Spicy Italian Sausage to keep it vegetarian. If you leave out the cheese, it could also be served to your sweet vegan nieces.

A hearty green is the next component. Kale or Swiss chard are perfect. Just stir them in and mix until they wilt. You need that hit of bitterness to balance the stuffing. Cheese is optional but I love the richness it brings. I used a mix of Havarti, Gouda and Monterey Jack. Mix some in but save a bit to put on top for a molten golden crust.

The final component is the garnish. I’m all about texture so after filling and heating I topped mine with roasted salted pumpkin seeds and some ruby red juicy pomegranate seeds.

Click here to print recipe for Kale and Sausage Stuffed Squash.