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Stuffed Squash, Roman Style

Small squash are filled with lamb, rice, onions, and parsley, then baked in a pork-slice pan.

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

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the squash

  1. Cut off the top of each squash and scoop out the center, leaving a ½ inch shell.

  2. Parboil the squash for 3 minutes, then drain with the open side down.

Make the stuffing

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter and lightly fry the chopped onions.

  2. Add the scooped-out squash pieces and a little broth; cook until the broth reduces to a glaze.

  3. Stir in the roast lamb, cooked rice, parsley, salt, pepper, and reduced Espagnole sauce.

  4. Mix well over the heat, then fill the squash with the stuffing.

Bake and serve

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

  2. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until nicely browned.

  3. Serve each squash with a teaspoon of reduced plain 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 while it cooks and softens.
Roast lamb
Provides the savoury meat flavour and body of the stuffing.
Cooked rice
Bulks out the stuffing and absorbs juices, giving it a softer texture.
Reduced espagnole sauce
Adds concentrated savoury flavour and moisture to bind the stuffing.
White onions
Add sweetness and aroma when gently fried in butter.

The step that matters

Bake in a slow oven until nicely browned. A slow oven at 300°F cooks the squash and stuffing through gently while the broth and pork fat slowly brown the surface. Too hot an oven can scorch the outside before the filling and squash are tender.

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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