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Moroccan Lamb & Couscous Stuffed Acorn Squash

I had enough folks asking me for the recipe for this dish that I made yesterday that I decided to type it up and post it here for easier sharing, so here goes. 

(Makes 6 meal-sized servings, or 12 if you split the stuffed halves and serve a veggie side)

Tools:

Sharp knife
Big spoon
Measuring spoons and cups
Large cookie sheet or roasting pan, preferably with a lip all the way around
1 small pot (for the couscous)
1 large and deep skillet (I have a giant non-stick one with deep sides that is perfect for making large batches of filling like this)
1 spatula (remember that you can’t use metal spatulas on nonstick pans!)

Ingredients:

3 acorn squash (or squash of similar size)
1 lb ground lamb
1 box whole 365 garlic and olive oil pearled couscous
1 large onion
4 large cloves garlic
2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp paprika (invest in good smoked paprika if you don’t already have some)
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp black pepper
¼ cup of lemon juice (you can also use harissa or tomato paste, but you will want to reduce to 2 Tbps)
¼ cup of white wine (or use a stock) 
8 dried apricots
½ cup roasted pistachios (preferably unsalted, but salted will work too, you will just likely need to use less salt)
5 Tbps of finely chopped fresh mint (do not use dried!) 
12 Tbsp of sour cream (for garnish)
1 small container of feta cheese (for garnish)
kosher salt or sea salt
olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and place the rack in the middle position. 

1. Prepare the squash by cutting them in half length-wise (like slicing a pumpkin or butternut squash, you’ll want a very sharp knife to do this. Start on the fleshy side and work your way around the bottom back up to the top. You should then be able to split the squash at the stem. Scoop out the stringy insides and the seeds with the big metal spoon and discard. You may need to cut a little slice off the back of the squash so that they lay flatter on a roasting pan with the orange flesh facing up. Drizzle a little olive oil on the flesh side of the squash and season generously with salt and pepper (use about a Tbsp of salt here, acorn squash doesn’t have a lot of flavor on its own. It needs salt and acid to bring out the flavor.) One the squash is seasoned and the oven is preheated, place the squash in the oven and roast, uncovered for 30-40 minutes. (most recipes will say 40 minutes, but you don’t want the top to burn, so I checked min at 30 minutes and it was done. Once the flesh is tender enough for a spoon to sink in, it’s done.)

2. While the squash is roasting, finely dice the onion, finely mince the garlic, finely dice the apricots, and finely mince the mint. Once everything is prepped, you’re ready to bring the stuffing together. 

3. Prepare the box of couscous per the directions on the box. It’s pretty easy and takes about 15 minutes of cook time. You’ll let the couscous rest off the heat while you assemble the rest of the stuffing. 

4. Heat a Tbsp of olive oil in the nonstick pan on medium to medium-low heat. Err on the side of lower heat here. Add the onions and dry spices (cinnamon, paprika, cumin, cayenne and black pepper) and saute for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. This is where low heat is important. You want to onions to cook through, but you don’t want t burn the spices, you want them to warm up slowly with the onions so that the onions absorb the flavors and the juices from the onions make almost a paste-like consistency for the spices. Once the onions are translucent, add the minced garlic and cook for another couple of minutes. Raise the heat to medium and add the ground lamb, crumbling it as it cooks using the spatula until browned. Again, don’t rush the meat and keep the heat on medium, turning and crumbling the meat and incorporating the onion/spice mixture as it cooks. Once the meat is browned, add the apricots, wine, lemon juice, two-thirds of the mint (you’ll use the rest later) and the prepared couscous. You will also want to scoop about a Tbsp of acorn squash out of the bottom of each squash and add that to the filling mixture. Stir everything together with the spatula, cooking for another 2-3 minutes until the excess liquid has cooked away and everything is thoroughly mixed together. Turn off the heat and stir in the pistachios. 

5. Once the squash is finished roasting, remove from the oven and set aside. Reduce the oven to 375 degrees. Using the big spoon from earlier, spoon and pack the mixture into the roasted acorn squash halves, equally distributing it among the 6 halves. (Some halves will be deeper than others. That’s just how acorn squash works.) Once you’ve got all of the filling in the squashes, put them back in the oven for 10-15 minutes (you’re just heating everything through and getting a little color on the top of the filling). 

5. Serve with a garnish of about 2 Tbsp of crumbled feta and 2 Tbsp of sour cream and the fresh mint. You can also add a dash of paprika, some pistachios or even pomegranate seeds on top if desired.