Roasted Wild-Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash

Hi Fall,

So glad you are here!

I missed the beautiful foliage and bountiful produce. J took me on this spontaneous trip to (guess where) to visit the bridge that the headless horseman crossed right before Halloween!

It started out with two stressed people...

But quickly became better with the beautiful foliage in Sleepy Hollow (yep, you are right!)

And significantly elevated by a short visit to the oldest winery in the US!

We got home with starvation, and had another play to catch (Indecent at the Yale Rep -- a must-see!). So We stuffed a squash in the oven, and oh my goodness the fall dinner was so good! 

Roasted Wild - Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash 

Wild - Rice Stuffing

• 1/2 cup wild rice (brown rice) mixture

• 3/4 cup water

• dash of salt

• 1 Tbsp coconut oil

• 1/2 carrots (4 baby carrots), diced

• 1/2 celery stalk

• 1/2 purple onion (or 1 shallot)

• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds

• 2 garlic cloves, chopped

• 2 Tbsp ricotta salata, grated

• 2 Tbsp dried cherries, chopped

• 1 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

Acorn Squash

• 1 acorn squash

• 2 Tbsp olive oil

• 2 tsp salt

• 2 tsp pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the squash in half, and take out the seeds. (If you would like to roast the seeds, wash and dry the seeds first, and mix with some olive oil, salt and pepper.)
2. Rub the acorn squash halves with olive oil, and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Cover with aluminum foil and roast for 35 minutes. Take out from the oven when done.
3. Meanwhile, cook the rice with salted water for about 30 minutes. 
4. In a frying pan, fry the garlic cloves, onion, sunflower seeds and cumin seeds in coconut oil until fragrant, for about 3 minutes.
5. Add the carrots and celery to the pan and stir to coat with oil. 
6. Turn off the heat, and stir into the pan wild - rice, dried cherries, mint,ricotta salata, salt and pepper.
7. Divide the wild-rice filling among two squash halves. Drizzle a little more olive oil, and sprinkle additional salt and pepper if you wish. Put it back into the oven and continue to roast for about 20 minutes.
8. Enjoy with some red cabbage & black ear mushroom slaw, a simple salad and wine (from the oldest vineyard)!  

Budget (rough estimate) :
Squash -- $ 2.5
Ricotta Salata -- $ 0.50
Wild-Rice Mix (Lundberg organic) -- $ 1.00
carrots + celery + onion + garlic -- $ 1.00
sunflower seed + dried cherries -- $ 0.5
organic coconut and extra virgin olive oil & seasonings -- $0.5
mint -- free, from my garden :)

overall : $3 / serving