Yum, I just invented my first dish that I'd actually be willing to make again and share. I wanted to do a 1-pot dish with squash and chard, but realized it would be a lot easier to bake the squash first so that the skin would come off easier.
So I cut one acorn squash (on the small side) in half lengthwise, cleaned out the gunk and seeds, brushed some melted butter over the halves, added salt and pepper, then rubbed about a tablespoon of brown sugar over each half. Then baked (cut side up) for about 40 minutes at 450 until it was tender throughout.
After the squash was in the oven I chopped up a clove of garlic and half a leek, then removed the stems from a big bunch of red chard and chopped the leaves into big hunks.
Mmm, I thought pecans would be good in this and would add some protein. So I toasted about 1/2 a cup, although that turned out to be too much. 1/3 c would probably be good.
I was reheating leftover quinoa, but if you're making this dish, now would be a good time to put that on the stove.
5 minutes before the squash was done, I pulled out a large pan and sauted the garlic and leek, added the chard and also about 1/3 cup of raisins (I wanted cranberries but didn't have those on hand.)
Pulled the squash out of the oven and dumped the accumulated yummy sweet juice over the veggies, then peeled off the skin, chopped the squash into cubes and added them to the pot.
Then added salt, pepper and about a teaspoon of cinnamon over the whole thing. Chopped up the toasted pecans and mixed those in.
Spooned it over a pile of hot quinoa, and voila! A healthy vegetarian meal that could also be a good side dish for Thanksgiving. This makes enough for 2 main dishes or 4 sides.
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