Origins Farm: Stuffed Pattypan Squash Recipe

Earlier today we introduced you to the fine folks behind Origins Farm. Now we're going to share a new recipe we came up with after spotting and falling in love with the assortment of fresh pattypan squashes and other produce Origins Farm brought to the market — barley stuffed pattypan squash.

This is one of those really versatile recipes in that you can substitute and tweak stuffing ingredients to your liking or what you have on hand in the pantry and frige. We also added a little meat to our version, but you could easily make this a vegetarian/vegan friendly dish by eliminating that ingredient.

Ingredients: (stuffing enough for 10 pattypan squashes)

• Pattypan squashes (one per person if serving as a side, otherwise 3 per person)
• 1/2 cup organic pearl barley
• Fresh sage leaves from a whole stem, some chopped, some whole
• Medium red onion, diced
• Garlic clove, diced
• 8 ounces whole hog pork sausage
• Salt and pepper to taste

Grease baking sheet with olive oil or cooking spray and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook 1/2 cup dry pearl barley according to package directions and set aside for use in stuffing.

Meanwhile, slice thin point off bottoms of squash so they'll balance evenly on baking sheet. Compost, discard or reserve tips for use later.

Flip over and slice tops, reserving each to cap squashes later.

Gently scoop out insides of each squash with a spoon, careful not to scoop all the way through the bottom. Dice and reserve squash flesh in a bowl to use in stuffing later, and arrange squashes on baking sheet:

Let's make some stuffing!

Combine diced squash, onion, garlic and sage in a bowl. Cook pork sausage in a pan over medium heat, breaking up to separate and until lightly brown. Once cooked, mix in diced ingredients to combine:

Once mixed well, incorporate cooked barley into stuffing mixture and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste:

Generously stuff each pattypan squash with stuffing mixture and top with a small fresh sage leaf:

Top each squash with their original caps and drizzle lightly with olive oil.

Cover the entire baking sheet with foil and roast in oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and roast for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before plating:

We love how versatile this dish is — each squash could be served as an individual side with a larger dinner or paired as multiples to make up the main meal.

I'm telling you, these stuffed squashes are bursting with flavor and natural ingredients — this is definitely a recipe that will become a regular rotation in our kitchen!

Have you cooked with pattypan squashes before? If you're in RVA, be sure to check out Origin's Farm at your local market and pick up a few for your next summer dinner.

Discover More:

Origins Farm Recipes | All Recipes

Produce for this recipe was supplied on behalf of Origins Farm, whose mission we adore. Learn more about the farm, the people behind it and how excited we are about our relationship with them here.