Orange Flavored Crab Stuffed Butternut Squash
By: Tom and Anita Morgan
Published: Monday, March 17, 2014 - 1:53pm

Ingredients




6 oz canned or fresh crab claw meat
2 ½ # butternut squash
1/4 cup tangelo juice
1 ½ T unsalted butter
2 green onions, chopped or sliced thin
½ pasilla pepper, chopped small
1 T+ sweet/hot mustard
1 pinch red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T tangelo zest
A few tangelo wedges for garnish
A few green onions or parsley sprigs for garnish

Preparation

1 1. Preheat oven to 375*F. 2 2. With a sharp butcher knife, carefully cut the squash in half and trim flat spots on the round part of the bulb end to prevent them from tilting in the oven. Scoop out the seeds and fibers in the bulb part and make a trench in the narrow part. 3 3. Spray some cooking oil in a baking dish, drizzle a little tangelo juice over the cut squash and cook it for 45 minutes before filling with the crab mixture. 4 4. After the squash has been cooking about 30 minutes, prepare the crab filling: 5 A. Add the butter and a little cooking oil to a ten inch sauté pan. 6 B. Saute the pepper and onions for a few minutes over low-medium heat; add the garlic and sauté for about two more minutes, stirring to prevent burning. 7 C. Turn off the heat and stir in the crab, orange juice and orange zest and let cool. 8 5. Remove the baking dish from the oven, spoon the crab mixture into the squash cavity and put back into the oven for about 15 minutes or until the squash is fork tender. 9 PLATING: 10 1. Place each squash half onto a plate and garnish with tangelo wedges, parsley or green onion strips. 11 2. Add a small Springmix salad with balsamic and olive oil dressing for greens. 12 3. Accompany with a Sauvignon Blanc, or a mild red wine, or a rose.

About

It's squash season and we had purchased a can of crabmeat and were contemplating what to cook using it. So, we decided to start with the crab and a butternut squash. Then we added an orange-mustard sauce to a crab and filled in the hollow of the butternut squash. It was delicious; the sweet and sour spiciness added to the taste of the crab but didn't overcome it. And a bite combining the crab filling with a piece of squash was wonderful. Ooh La La!!!