Experimental Cooking - Banana Squash with Ground Beef Stuffing

Makes 3

Ingredients:

• 3 Slices of Banana Squash
• 1lb of Ground Beef
• 3 Crimini Mushrooms
• 1 Shallot
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• Glug of White Wine
• Lawrys Seasoning Salt
• Chili Pepper Flakes
• Dash of Cholula Chipotle Sauce
• Rosemary
• Handful of Parmesan
• Garlic and Herb Breadcrumbs
• Olive Oil
• Can of tomatoes

The Technique

First the Banana Squash slices. Cover liberally in olive oil, season with Lawrys and pepper, add some chili pepper flakes and rub those bad boys with the oily mix. Stick in the oven with a few sprigs of rosemary on top of each at 380F till they are cooked - can't remember how long it took, but it was a fair while...

Now the Ground Beef "stuffing". Chop the shallot and mushrooms to a fine dice then start cooking on a high heat. When the shallot has sweated down add the garlic (pureed). Chop the leaves from one sprig of rosemary and add. Then add the beef and cook. When near completion bung in a glug of white wine and cook off the alcohol. Season with more lawrys to taste. Add a dash of the chipotle sauce. Throw in the can of tomatoes and simmer for a while.

When the squash is pretty much cooked, add the beef to each, top with bread crumbs and parmesan and bake for a while longer till the crust looks nice and golden brown. Take it out and eat.

The Score:

WIN - but only just. This was a pretty good experiment, but could use a few improvements. The Banana Squash was a little too sweet - I'd probably use a Spaghetti Squash, Butternut or a Kabocha next time - something not so sweet. There was a touch too much rosemary in the beef, so I'd probably half the amount I put in. The breadcrumbs weren't that great either, as they went a little soggy. I'd probably put a layer of parmesan, then some Panko breadcrumbs next time. However, the stuffing was pretty awesome - I'd definitely work that into something else in the future.