Walnut & Spiced Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash

Flavor profile inspired by Sunny Anderson.

Makes 4 servings as a side dish or 2 servings as a main dish.

• 1 acorn squash

• 3/4 cups cooked wild rice

• 1/4 cup small mozzarella cheese balls (Bocconcini), cut in half

• 2 tbs golden raisins, chopped (or currants, dried cherries, whatever dried fruit you have)

• salt and pepper, to taste

• 2 tbs chopped onion

• 1 tsp curry powder

• 1 tsp fresh thyme

• 1/8 tsp smoked paprika

• pinch red pepper flakes

• 1/4 tsp garlic powder

• 1/4 cup raw walnuts, soaked in water for 20 minutes

• 1/2 tbs soy sauce

• 1/8 tsp celery salt

• 2 tsp olive oil

• cilantro or parsley, for garnish

1. Prick the squash all over and microwave for 10 minutes, then let cool. You can do this part up to a couple days ahead and store the squash, wrapped in plastic, in the fridge until ready to proceed.

2. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut squash in half, and remove the seeds. Scoop the flesh into a large bowl, leaving a thin edge in the skins so they can keep their shape. Level off the bottoms of each half so they sit flat on a baking sheet.

3. Add the rice, mozzarella pieces, and raisins to the squash in the bowl and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. In the bowl of a food processor, combine onion, curry powder, thyme, paprika, pepper flakes, garlic powder, walnuts, soy sauce and celery salt, and pulse until finely crumbled. Heat a skillet over medium high heat with the olive oil and add the walnut mixture. Cook 2-3 minutes, until browned and fragrant. Add to the bowl with the squash mixture and mix well.

5. Divide the squash and rice mixture between the two squash cups and bake for 15 minutes. Serve warm, and garnish with cilantro or parsley as desired.

Notes:

• At first glance, this recipe looks like it has annoyingly small recipe amounts (2 tbs onion??? 1/4 cup walnuts???), but I think that makes it perfect for Thanksgiving, when I know I always have odds and ends of different ingredients laying around. If you have half an onion left from something else, perfect! Do you have walnuts in a dessert? Take a handful. Or, you have some leftover rice, add it! It doesn’t have to be wild rice. Though rice, once cooked, freezes really well, so having some on hand at all times is a great idea, and much cheaper than buying that pre-cooked rice in the freezer aisle at the grocery store.

• I envisioned this for a small gathering, but the great thing about this recipe is that it scales really, well, so double or even triple it for a larger crowd.