Blue Cheese and Walnut Stuffed Butternut Squash

Quick and simple is the order of the day with this recipe taken from HFW’s River Cottage everyday which was exactly what I needed for a post-Zumba light dinner. In fact I roasted the squash prior to going to my class, left it in the then turned off oven and finished off when I got back.

As with pretty much all stuffed vegetable dishes, the world really is your oyster in terms of altering the filling or even the type of squash. Small round squashes for instance such as onion, acorn or Crown Prince and different cheeses and nuts, herbs, chopped up crispy bacon or pancetta... you get the idea.


Blue Cheese and Walnut stuffed Butternut Squash
Serves 2

1 medium butternut squash, halved lengthways & deseeded
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
25g unsalted butter
olive oil
40g walnuts, lightly toasted & roughly chopped
100g blue cheese, crumbled
1 tsp chopped thyme
½ tsp agave nectar or runny honey
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Place the squash halves on a baking tray, divide the garlic and butter between the cavities of each half. Brush them with a little oil and season well.

Bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes until the flesh is very tender.

Once cooked scoop out the flesh and garlicky butter into a bowl and mash with a fork. Be sure to leave about 1cm of flesh attached to the skin all the way round though else the squash won’t keep it’s shape very well (see my photos for an example of that happening!). Fold most of the cheese and walnuts (keep some back) and the thyme into the mashed flesh and season again.

Spoon the filling back into the squash halves, sprinkling the reserved nuts and cheese over each of them.

 Drizzle with a little agave nectar / honey then pop back into the oven and bake for a further 15 minutes.

Serve immediately with a nice salad.