Sausage Calabacita Casserole

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I bought some lovely calaba squash this week and wanted to make a casserole incorporating them.  So I decided to just make my regular Calabacita recipe, doubling the bacon and adding 1/3 lb. pork sausage and it came out delicious.

I think you’ll find the flavors in this dish quite exciting.  If you are particularly sodium sensitive, you might want to reduce the bacon to 4 slices.  This recipe is most definitely Induction friendly.  There are several varieties of calaba squash, but the most commonly available in my area looks like short, rounded 4″ zucchini, but a much paler shade of green.  The inner flesh of a calaba is much yellower than zucchini.  A pic of calaba is shown below.   Sometimes when I have cauliflower in the house, I like to make up a batch of mashed cauliflower and spoon it over the squash/meat mixture before topping with cheese.  It’s more like a Mexican Shephard’s Pie that way.  Good BOTH ways, actually.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. diced calaba squash (½” dice)

Calaba Squash average 5-6″ in length, unlike their larger cousin, zucchini squash that can get quite a bit larger.

½ large leek, washed well of dirt, sliced thin

8 slices lean bacon, chopped coarsely

1/3 lb. lean pork breakfast sausage, crumbled

1 T. butter, unsalted

½ c. sweet red pepper, chopped

3 oz. cheddar cheese

3 oz. Monterrey Jack cheese

Pinch each of black pepper, ground cumin, celery seed and chipotle chile powder

1 T. finely chopped jalapeno pepper, seeded (optional)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Brown the chopped bacon in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat (do not drain off grease unless there is more than 2 tablespoons).  When done, add butter and diced calaba squash, stirring often and cook until just about fully tender.   Add sliced leeks, red pepper, spices  and jalapeno if using.  Continue stirring for about 5-10 minutes until all veggies appear to be done.  Add crumbled up sausage and cook, stirring until  sausage is no longer pink.  Drain off any excess oil from the meats at this point.  Combine the cheese and top casserole with cheese and pop into 350º oven for about 20-30 minutes or just until cheese is melted nicely.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 5 servings, each contains:

318 calories

11.1 g  fat

6.4 g  carbs, 1.48 g  fiber, 4.92 g NET CARBS

16.2 g  protein

659 mg sodium

85 mg potassium

25% RDA Vitamin B6, 20% B12, 31% C, 20% iron, 28% phosphorous, 32% riboflavin, 10% thiamin and 22% zinc