I hate to be vague with you on a recipe but all will hinge on the size of acorn squash you find available. As with anything you bake, the bigger it is the longer it will take to bake, and the bigger it is the more stuffing it will take to fill it. And so it is time for you to use some
common sense, and to try testing regularly to find out how cooked your squash is.

The stuffing is a mixture of spinach, bacon and parmesan in a thick béchamel sauce topped with parmesan and breadcrumbs for a crunchy crust. It only needs to be added to the squash for the final 15 minutes of cooking time so you need to test that they are becoming tender before you stuff them. A small sharp knife into a thick area of squash flesh should go in without too much resistance - like testing boiled potatoes.

Ingredients - serves 4

2 acorn squash - each weighing around 400g
250g trimmed spinach
250g back or streaky bacon
40g butter
40g plain flour
300ml milk
50ml double cream
a pinch of grated nutmeg
75g parmesan, grated
50g white breadcrumbs
salt, pepper
olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C
Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Brush a baking tray with olive oil and sit the squash halves face down - bake for 30 minutes. Bring salted water to the boil and blanch the spinach for a couple of minutes, drain and squeeze out the excess water, coarsely chop and set aside. Cut the bacon into generous lardons and fry off in a tiny amount of oil to just cooked, reserve.

While the squash is baking make a béchamel sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan, once melted add the flour and cook over a low heat until foaming, season with salt and pepper and add the milk and cream, whisking constantly to incorporate smoothly. If you are efficient enough the sauce will not be lumpy, if it is, rest assured that a sustained thrashing with the whisk will retrieve it. The sauce is ready as soon as it’s reached the boil and has thickened so remove from the heat. Fold in the chopped spinach and bacon, add half of the parmesan cheese and grate in a little nutmeg, check the seasoning. If the squash is not yet ready, you can rub the surface of the sauce with butter to prevent it from developing a skin as it waits.

Turn up the oven to 180°C. Turn the squash halves over and spoon in the stuffing mixture. Mix the remaining parmesan and breadcrumbs and sprinkle over before returning to the oven for a further 20 minutes or until golden and crisp. Serve with rocket & watercress salad.