Tonight’s dinner was inspired by my friend, Luzanne who shares my love for gem squashes, but usually fills hers with curry mince and not peas; like I usually do. So, once again I ventured into the unknown and tried a new, totally made up recipe. What a winner this one turned out to be!

Who’s hungry? Vincent and I. However there might be leftovers. Who am I kidding. There definitely will be.

Ingredients

• 4 gem squashes, halved
• 400 g lean beef mince
• 8 small carrots, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 200 g white gouda
• 3 tbsp mild fruit chutney
• 50 g tomato paste
• 2 tbsp Masala spice
• Salt & pepper
• 2 tbsp coconut oil

Prep time

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Half the gem squashes and scoop their insides out.

Place them onto a baking tray and drizzle some coconut oil over each one.

Put them in the oven for 10 minutes.

Let’s make curry mince

Get a frying pan warm on the stove and chuck the onions and carrots into the pan with some coconut oil.

Stir it around until the carrots become quite soft before sprinkling about a tablespoon of Masala spice over it. Stir it for a while longer.

Make a hole and add the mince to the middle of the frying pan, letting it brown a bit on one side while giving the pink side heaps of salt and pepper.

Stir it around for a minute or two.

Add the chutney and tomato paste.

Stir it again for another 5 minutes. Your squashes can come out of the oven at this point, so take a breather and enjoy a glass of wine. Tonight, I’m having Van Loveren Colombar.

Add more Masala spice and keep stirring that mince on high heat. When most of the liquid has cooked away, take it off the heat.

Fill the squashes

Carefully spoon the mince mixture into the squashes. Fill them to the brim and pat them down so you get the maximum amount of mince in there.

The end result should look something like this.

Sprinkle grated cheese over each one.

Put it back into the oven for another 5 minutes, on grill.

They’re ready!

Dish and enjoy.

Get the print-ready recipe here: