Instructions

1. – Preheat oven to 400.
2. – On a baking sheet, place the two halves of the acorn squash on a baking mat or foil, cut side up. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
3. – Place into oven and bake for 50 minutes.
4. – While squash is baking, pour 2 TB of olive oil in a deep dish skillet and warm up on medium heat. When oil is heated, place the four sage leaves into the oil. Let the leaves crisp and turn over to crisp the other side.
5. – When the sage leaves are crispy, remove and place on a towel to remove excess oil. Set aside.
6. – In the sage infused oil, add the garlic and shallot and sauté for one minute.
7. – Add the uncooked wild rice and sauté for another minute.
8. – Add the chicken broth to the skillet, stir, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook for about 30 minutes or until rice has plumped up and has absorbed the broth. *Wild rice can be tricky. Depending on your wild rice, you may need a little more chicken broth. If after 30 minutes you no longer have broth and the rice is still hard, add a little more broth and let it continue to cook.
9. – While the rice is cooking, in another pan, cook the sweet Italian sausage till there is no pink. Drain grease from pan.
10. – Add the mushrooms to the sausage and cook until tender.
11. – When the rice is finished, combine with sausage and mushrooms. Mix well.
12. – Scoop mixture into baked acorn squash halves. Return to oven and bake for another 20 minutes.
13. – Crumble the sage leaves onto the stuffed squash right before serving.