Quinoa Carnival

Quinoa Stuffed Squash

1 Winter squash (acorn, carnival, etc.)
Olive oil
1/2 C dry quinoa
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 onion chopped
4-5 thick baby carrots or 1 carrot stick diced
7 or so button mushrooms sliced
2 small or 1 large celery stick chopped
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
1/8 tsp dried tarragon
salt and pepper to taste
Splash of cooking sherry
Handful of craisins
Chopped almonds, pecans, and walnuts


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or if you're in a hurry like me - convection at 375 degrees)
2. Rinse squash. Then cut the squash in half with a large knife and remove the seeds.
3. Baste the squash with the olive oil and put on a cooking sheet in the oven for about 40 minutes or until softened
4. Meanwhile cook the quinoa in 1 cup of water or broth covered for 12 minutes or until water is absorbed then take off heat, fluff, and and let set covered about 15 minutes. (Just like rice).
5. Add oil to a pan then saute garlic, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and celery on medium high until slightly softened then mix in thyme, marjoram, tarragon, salt, and pepper (I used both black and white pepper).
6. Add a splash of cooking sherry and allow to cook down and evaporate out most of the liquid,  5-10 minutes.
7. Mix the quinoa, vegetables, and crasins together and fill squash with mixture.
8. Toast the almonds, pecans, and walnuts on a baking sheet in the oven at 400 degrees for 4-5 minutes or until golden and aromatic.
9. Top filled squash with toasted nuts (a sprinkle of garlic salt was really good on top too).

*Notes - I don't really know what the cooking sherry does but it makes it really good.

In Pictures

Rinse the squash. I think this is a carnival squash. You could really use any sweet tasting winter squash.

Carnival Squash

 Chop the squash in half.

Mine looks a little more like 3rds huh?

 Baste the squash with olive oil and place on foil lined baking sheet. I flipped them downwards half way through baking time but I think if you actually did them at 350 degrees, you wouldn't need to worry about that.

Foil reduces clean up time.

 Chop the veggies.

Chop away.

 Saute the veggies, add spices, redux with sherry, then mix quinoa, crasins, veggies together.

Mix it all.

 Remove the cooked squash.

The inside of this squash looks like gold.

 Toast the nuts. I did this on the same baking sheet to save dishes.

Careful when toasting, they don't take long and can easily burn.

 Then load up the squash and sprinkle on the nuts.

Voila!

These were really good. They can essentially be stuffed with any combination of grain and vegetable. They are actually really good with just butter and brown sugar but I wanted to make  complete and healthy meal. Enjoy!

What I learned:

1. So after posting that note about not knowing what the sherry actually does, I decided to go do some research. Apparently a lot of people don't like cooking sherry because it is a low quality sherry with a lot of salt and these people prefer to use real drinking dry sherry. One website said this:

A small quantity of wine will enhance the flavor of the dish.

The alcohol in the wine evaporates while the food is cooking, and only the flavor remains. Boiling down wine concentrates the flavor, including acidity and sweetness. Be careful not to use too much wine as the flavor could overpower your dish.

For best results, wine should not be added to a dish just before serving. The wine should simmer with the food, or sauce, to enhance the flavor of the dish. If added late in the preparation, it could impart a harsh quality.  It should simmer with the food or in the sauce while it is being cooked; as the wine cooks, it reduces and becomes an extract which flavors. Wine added too late in the preparation will give a harsh quality to the dish. A wine needs time to impart its flavor in your dish. Wait 10 minutes or more to taste before adding more wine.

So apparently it's best to use drinking quality wines/sherrys and the reduction simply cooks the alcohol out and leaves the concentrated flavor of the wine behind. I personally think the cooking sherry did just fine in this recipe and it definitely tasted better after the sherry was added.. For Marinara sauce I usually use a real red wine which does make it taste really good.
The other thing I kept reading was that juices will do the same thing ie pineapple or apple juice. I think some stock or broth would impart good flavors as well.

2. It's okay to eat the skin of a winter squash if you so choose. Just fyi, from personal experience, chew well.