Stuffed Rond De Nice Squash

In my continuing CSA adventures, I'm learning to identify and cook some squash varieties I've never even seen before (including one thing I thought was a squash and was about to eat for dinner until I cut it open, and it turns out it was some weird cucumber! I still haven't gotten to the bottom of that one yet).

At any rate, in order to identify these things I've taken to doing google image searches of 'squash' and trying to find ones that look like what is in my fridge... and, low and behold, I have a Rond de Nice Squash, which apparently is actually a French type of round zucchini (oooh la la). Basically everyone on the internet stuffs them, so, I went for it.

Cut the top off, and hollow out the middle. BEWARE! this is NOT like a pumpkin, because the skin is just thin zucchini skin. So, the only thing stopping you from digging a hole straight out the side of the squash are your own razor sharp reflexes.

My filling:
-half an onion, diced
-a jalapeno (from my pepper plant!)
-1 tsp cumin
-1 tsp corriander
-ground red pepper
-1 cob corn, cut off cob
-1 can drained rinsed black beans
-3 cloves garlic
-the extracted squash insides, chopped up
-1/4c shredded cheese (or feta!)
-a little olive oil

Cook the onions and garlic in with the olive oil. Toss in the jalapeno and the cumin/corriander/pepper. Put in the beans and the corn and let cook. Put in cheese at the very end. Stuff the peppers with it.

Now, I'd say my primary mistake was in making my filling to wet- I was worried about it being dried out, but the squash itself released a lot of water, so I'd err on the dry side. I put the little hat on it, and baked at 350 for 30 minutes. Then, I took the lid off, topped with a bit more cheese, and let it keep going until it was brown and bubbly.

This was good! The squash got really soft, and it was a delicious combo of veggies. You could really put almost anything in there- a lot of people used sausage, but I didn't want to go there. Mine had a Mexican flavor, but you could go anywhere.

It was very filling and I used it as a main course, but if you cut the peppers in half (they're softball sized, so pretty large) you could use them as a side dish. In addition, it made way too much filling for the 2 squash I had (it would be perfect for 4). So, I put them in tupperware with some rice (as part of my whole lunch packing system), and have 2 lunches in the freezer!

If you see these things, give it a whirl!