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Stuffed Squash, Roman Style

A baked dish of squash filled with lamb, rice, onions, and sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Stuffed Squash, Roman Style

2 dozen squash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the squash

  1. Cut off the tops of the squash and scoop out the centers, leaving ½ inch of shell.

  2. Parboil the squash for 3 minutes.

  3. Drain the squash with the open side down on a napkin.

Make the stuffing

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Lightly fry the chopped onions.

  3. Add the scooped-out squash pieces and a little broth.

  4. Cook until the broth reduces to a glaze.

  5. Stir in the roast lamb, cooked rice, and chopped parsley.

  6. Season with salt and pepper, then add the Espagnole sauce. Mix well over the heat.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill the squash with the stuffing.

  2. Place the stuffed squash in a flat saucepan lined with slices of fat pork and moisten with broth.

  3. Cook slowly in the oven until nicely browned.

  4. Serve each squash with a teaspoon of reduced tomato sauce on top.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Lamb + porktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together623 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Onion + porktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Squash
Forms the edible shell that holds the stuffing and softens as it cooks.
Roast lamb
Provides the meaty body and savory flavor of the stuffing.
Cooked rice
Bulks out the stuffing and gives it a soft, absorbent texture.
Espagnole sauce
Adds rich, savory depth and moisture to bind the stuffing.
Fat pork
Lines the pan, releasing fat that helps the squash brown and flavors the bottom.
Reduced tomato sauce
Adds bright acidity and color as a finishing topping.

The step that matters

Cook until the broth reduces to a glaze. If the broth is not reduced enough, the squash pieces stay wet and the stuffing becomes watery and loose. Cooking off the liquid concentrates flavor and gives the filling a thick, scoopable texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, lamb, rice, parsley, pepper, sauce, pork):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, lamb, rice, parsley, pepper, sauce, pork. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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