Stuffed Round Squash

Ingredients

• 2 onions
• 1 carrot
• 4 round squash
• 1 cup rice
• 100 g cheese

Method

Cook the rice first in plenty of salted water at a rolling boil, then drain and spread it on a tray to cool. This separates the grains properly and stops carryover cooking that would turn them to mush when reheated in the filling. While it cools, halve the squash and scoop out the seeds and stringy centre with a sturdy spoon — you want clean cavities, not ragged walls that will collapse. Cut the scooped flesh into 1 cm dice. Dice the onions and carrot to the same size; uniform pieces cook evenly and distribute the aromatic-vegetables flavour throughout the filling rather than leaving hard chunks of raw onion in some bites.

Heat oil in a wide pan over a moderate flame and sauté the onion and carrot for 3–4 minutes until the edges turn translucent. Add the diced squash flesh and cook for a further 6–8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the squash softens and begins to break down at the edges. This partial collapse thickens the filling and binds it together. Fold in the cooled rice and grate the cheese directly into the pan off the microplane. Stir until the heat melts the cheese into a loose binding agent — you're after a moist, clumping texture that will hold its shape when spooned, not a dry amalgam. Season with salt and black pepper. Taste and adjust.

Sit the squash halves skin-side up on a baking tray. Roast at 180°C for 12–15 minutes to soften the walls slightly — the squash should yield to a knife point but not collapse. Turn them skin-side down, then spoon the filling into each cavity, pressing it in gently so it beds into the flesh. Return to the oven at 200°C for another 10–12 minutes. The filling surface should colour lightly; the squash walls should be tender enough that a fork slides through without resistance.

Serve warm, straight from the oven-baking|baking tray. The stuffing will set as it cools, so eat whilst it still has some give.