Baked Delicata Squash with Apple Filling

This is another Boistfort recipe. I like what Heidi and Mike posted about the recipe: "Get crazy when it comes to filling choices and use up your carrots or fennel or whatever. This dish is the meaning of fall. We often top with a little cheese and have even been known to add sausage to filling."

Ingredients:
1 delicata squash
1 apple, chopped*
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/4 c. (or so) leeks, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1/4 c. (or so) slivered almonds or chopped walnuts
Butter (a tablespoon or so)
Water (a couple tablespoons)
Salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the delicata squash in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds, and compost them. Place the squash halves facedown in a shallow, ovenproof dish. Add about a quarter-inch of water to the dish. Combine the remaining ingredients (except the salt) in another small, ovenproof dish. Cover this dish with foil (or a lid, if it's fancy like that. I used a glass loaf pan, so foil it was for me). Put both dishes in the preheated oven, and bake for 45 minutes or so--until the squash is tender. Stir the filling once or twice during baking, re-covering it each time. Once everything is cooked, salt the squash halves. Add salt to the filling to taste, then scoop the filling into the squash halves.

*We rarely peel our produce (apples, beets, carrots, potatoes, etc.). It just doesn't seem necessary, because the texture of the peel doesn't bother any of us, it's often quite nutritious, and since we're using organic produce, we don't need to worry about the pesticides that would otherwise be present in large amounts in the peel.

Comments:
Tasty. Liam and Annika loved it especially well. Steve and I liked it a lot too but felt that it could use a bit more salt to balance out the sweetness of the delicata and the apples. (We didn't sprinkle the filling with salt, but I added that to the recipe above, and we'll do it next time.)