Veggie Harvest Stuffin' Squash

People like to be outraged that all the Xmas-mania is starting too early. "Halloween just ended!" they say. "What about Thanksgiving?!" I saw a newspaper cartoon in which a turkey is confronting Santa about backing off the turkey's month. Why are you so excited about your imminent doom, turkey? It doesn't really make sense. 

During a recent post-Halloween cold snap, I wanted to remind myself of T-giving and modify a stuffed squash recipe I make to more closely resemble a dish my mum used to cook for me and my sister. I kept thinking about sausage stuffing (or "dressing" for you Southerners), but I don't eat or cook a lot of meat. By incorporating thyme, rosemary, dried cranberries and faux sausage (I used a vegan Field Roast sausage in apple & sage flavor. You're welcome, turkey!), I tried to capture some fall flavors. The end result was pretty delicious and definitely homey and comforting—perfect for a chilly autumn evening. Here is the recipe. It takes a little more than an hour to make, and yields two cozy servings. It's also vegan if you omit the feta. 

Ingredients

Acorn squash

Olive oil

½ cup white quinoa

1 cup water or broth

Half of an onion, chopped

1 cup sliced mushrooms

2 ears of corn, in husk

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Field Roast vegan sausages (or any fake or real meat crumble you desire. Or leave it out. Do what you want!)

Rosemary

Thyme

Dried cranberries

Feta (optional)

Paprika (optional)

Cayenne (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice acorn squash in half with a huge knife. Scoop out seeds, and set seeds aside if you want some extra crunch. Brush olive oil on cut sides and “bowl” of squash. Place in oven cut side up for about 45 minutes to an hour. Check on it after 45 minutes, and remove when tender. Turn oven to 350 degrees, and set corn in husk directly on rack for 30 minutes. (I roasted the corn in a separate convection oven, but you could put the corn in along with the squash at 350, then remove corn after 30 minutes and turn up heat to finish cooking squash.)

Place quinoa and water/broth in pot and add some salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn down heat to simmer for 20 minutes or until quinoa is fully sprouted and liquid is absorbed. While quinoa is cooking, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in sauce pan on medium and brown the sausages. Remove to paper towels, then add a little more oil if necessary and sauté onions and mushrooms. Turn heat down a little and add minced garlic and about a ½ cup (more if desired) chopped dried cranberries. Chop up cooked sausage and add to pan. Use a sharp knife to carefully scrape corn kernels from cob and add to pan. Toss to incorporate.

 Turn heat off. Finely chop as much thyme and rosemary as you want (a couple tablespoons, probably, but be careful because too much rosemary can overpower a dish easily and make it taste “soapy.”) and add to pan. Toss to incorporate. When quinoa is cooked, add to pan and mix it all together. 

For crunchy roasted seeds, remove as much squash innards as possible from seeds and rinse in a colander, then dry. Toss with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne. Place on cookie tray and roast at 300 degrees for about 10-15 minutes, tossing once halfway through.

When squash is tender, remove from oven and scoop quinoa corn sausage mixture into the bowls of the squash. Top with feta crumbles (if desired) and spicy roasted seeds. Stick a piece of rosemary in it and pretend you're fancy. Happy Fall!    

Some notes: Again, I have a small convection oven, so I used that and the oven, since there's a lot of roasting going on here, but I think it could be manageable to do it all in the oven. To speed things up, you could roast the corn ahead of time, use a can of corn, or skip the seed step completely. Other suggestions I would have would be add sage, swap diced apple for the cranberries, add pecans or walnuts. Go crazy. Just make sure there's some nice textures and a bit of sweetness.