Month: November 2009

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Steamed Purple Fingerlings with Lemon Aioli

Last month, I took a brief jaunt to Miami to visit my fabulous friend Rebecca.  Rebecca and I met in college and discovered that we shared an affinity for good food, good wine, and good dinner conversation.  Once we discovered these mutual interests, Rebecca and I were practically inseparable.  By senior year, when we each had apartments of our own (Rebecca took the plunge earlier – I was harder to pry away from the sorority house) we made a habit of cooking and eating dinner together every night.  Since we did everything together anyway – meeting in the morning to walk to class, sitting together in every class that we could (and we made a point to sign up for as many of the same classes as possible – including wine tasting, of course), meeting after class to walk home together, going to the grocery store and farmers market together, cooking together, eating together, and watching bad reality TV together – it was only natural that we would absorb some of each other’s recipes.  Today, we’ve been friends for nine years; Rebecca makes my poached eggs, and I follow her method for cooking eggplant.

So anyway, where am I going with this?  Well, here you have an adaptation of one of talented Rebecca’s recipes – roasted blue potatoes with with vegan aioli.  She whipped up the original on the Sunday night before I flew home to the hubby, while I laid on her couch complaining about having eaten too much caviar at brunch that morning (and afternoon) at the Biltmore Hotel.  When Rebecca suggested these potatoes, I reacted strongly, I admit – in fact, I may have screamed “NOOOOOOO!”  But when they came out of the oven, Rebecca presented them in a spiral on a plate and proceeded to make “yummy” noises until I relented and tried them.  Needless to say, I was whipping up my own version of Rebecca’s aioli and serving it alongside adorable steamed purple fingerling potatoes for the hubs less than a week later.  I know a good thing when I see it.  And taste it.  And so does Rebecca.

Steamed Purple Fingerlings with Lemon Aioli

1 pound purple fingerling potatoes (substitute Russian Banana or other fingerlings)
1/4 cup mayonnaise (or vegannaise)
zest and juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon chopped chives, parsley or dill (cook’s choice!)

  • Scrub the fingerling potatoes clean, but don’t peel them.  Slice the potatoes lengthwise and cook in a steamer set over simmering water for approximately 15 minutes, until tender.
  • Meanwhile, make the aioli: combine the mayo, lemon zest, juice and chopped herbs in a small bowl.  Transfer to serving dish and garnish with additional chopped herbs if desired.
  • That’s it!  Easy, right?

Source: adapted from Messybaker’s BFF Rebecca

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Thanksgiving

Our first married Thanksgiving… now we’re on five and counting!

How many of you have watched the show “Dharma and Greg” from the nineties?  Show of hands?  Anybody?  Bueller?  Anyway, it’s a great show – I used to watch it religiously with my mom, and the show had some fantastic quotes that still apply to life in 2009.  (It helps that I have the first season on DVD to keep my memory fresh.)  One of my favorite moments is when Dharma decides to cook Thanksgiving dinner for Greg, both sets of parents, and their weird friends Pete and Jane.  Kitty, Dharma’s mother-in-law, tries to discourage her:

“Oh, Dharma, every new bride thinks she wants to cook a Thanksgiving dinner, and it always ends up the same way.  Someone cries, someone is rushed to the emergency room, and a perfectly lovely bird gets wasted.  Which, if I don’t eat soon, will be me.”

You can bet that quote was on my mind on Thanksgiving 2005, when I was the new bride cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time!  Fortunately for me, it was just me, the hubs, and my mother-in-law… and my mother-in-law happens to be  a delight, unlike Kitty Montgomery.  Thanksgiving was a breeze and I’ve done a few more Thanksgivings and one Christmas since then, so I feel like I’m starting to get the whole holiday dinner thing down.  And this year, it’s even easier – hubby, mother-in-law and I are going to a neighbor’s house for the holiday and she and I have split the cooking responsibilities – something I would have never considered doing just a few years ago!  This year, though, the number one item on my list of things that I am thankful for is that I don’t have to cook the turkey!   (Okay, maybe not the number one thing, but it’s pretty high up.  Turkey is a pain.)  Here’s my menu for this year…

Appetizer
Artichoke Dip – a holiday tradition for my family!

Soup and Bread
Apple and Butternut Squash Soup
Buttermilk Fantail Rolls

Main Course
Roast Turkey (contributed by my neighbor)
Traditional Stuffing (contributed by my neighbor)
Sweet Potatoes (contributed by my neighbor)
Classic Mashed Potatoes
Citrus-Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Green Bean Casserole
Roasted Acorn Squash with Cranberries and Orange

Dessert
Pumpkin Cake (contributed by my neighbor)
Chocolate Chip Cookies (contributed by my neighbor)
Yankee Apple-Cranberry Pie
Chocolate Truffles

As you can see, it’s quite a menu!  Fortunately, we’re going to have a bigger crowd than usual this year, what with combining gatherings with my neighbor – and a friend or two who may stop by for dessert.  Now it’s your turn – what’s on your bountiful table this year?

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Omnivore Books On Food

This unique bookstore was on my “must-see” list when hubby and I were in San Francisco.  I mean, really, a whole bookstore devoted to cookbooks?  Antique cookbooks, vintage cookbooks, rare cookbooks, new cookbooks?  Sign me up!  I knew I had to check this place out.  So hubby and I fortified ourselves with a good breakfast, hailed a cab, sharpened our elbows, and got ready to fight tooth and nail for the best deals.  As it turned out, cookbook collectors are pretty peaceable people – who knew?  (I once went to a wool festival and came home black and blue after a little scuffle near the cashmere – which I did NOT start, by the way – so I’m now ready for anything.)  I spent a blissfully happy hour or so thumbing through some fabulous old cookbooks while hubby waited patiently nearby (imagining the treats in store for him, no doubt) and I scored some pretty amazing deals.  Behold my haul…

In no particular order…

Is this 1976 limited-printing booklet called “Apple N Core” or “Apple Encore”… ?  I’m not sure, but I know one thing: it’s a hoot!  This booklet was limited to 500 copies and this here is a first (and only, so far as I know) edition.  It has recipes for everything from apple cake to apple barbeque sauce, with other tidbits like apple history, bios of famous apple-philes, and instructions on how to make an apple doll.  Like I said, an absolute hoot.

I don’t really know how this cookbook found its way home with me…  You see, I was just flipping innocently through the “California” shelf and I happened to notice that this 1949 Third Edition boasts the “debut” of Green Goddess dressing!  I love Green Goddess dressing, and to me it simply screams California.  So, I let it jump into my basket as a special souvenir of my California trip.

Here is a real treasure… a 1921 first edition cookbook dedicated solely to fruit.  The cover promises medicinal benefits to be obtained from the “commonest and most easily obtained fruits” – a revelation to the cooks of the 1920s, it seems!  The cookbook features classics such as “Dutch Apple Pie” and “Peach Cobbler,” adorably vintage-sounding dishes such as “Pineapple Delight” and “Apricot Ice For An Invalid,” and some recipes that read avant-garde even in the foodie culture of 2009, such as “Blackberry Vinegar.”  Expect to see some of Harriet S. Nelson’s fruity concoctions on here before long… but not before I do a bit of tweaking.  Harriet was enthusiastic about fruit, to be sure, but she wasn’t as big on prosaic things like measurements or oven temperatures or cooking times.  I plan to do a bit of updating and tinkering with this one and I’ll be sure to share my discoveries with you.

Hurray!  I’ve wanted my own copy of Beard on Pasta since I read Molly Wizenberg’s ode to braised onion pasta sauce.  Alas, it’s out of print.  But now, here it is, my very own treasure of a cookbook… and a first edition, no less!  The pasta gods are clearly smiling on me.

Omnivore Books On Food also sells new cookbooks, some of which are on my wish list and did look tempting.  Still, I consciously steered myself toward truly unique, special books that I couldn’t get on Amazon, with the resulting bounty. Stay tuned for recipes!

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Oricchiette with Greens and Goat Cheese

This is one of my favorite pasta dishes.  It’s easy to make – a matter of tossing a few ingredients together – and the creamy, tangy goat cheese is the perfect complement to the soft pasta and wilted greens.  A perfect, light weeknight dinner, the work of 15 minutes or less.  Now that’s what I call an instant classic!

Oricchiette with Greens and Goat Cheese

1/3 box oricchiette pasta (or substitute other short pasta)
2 ounces goat cheese, such as Laura Chenel
2 cups mixed salad greens
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

  • In a pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente, according to the package directions.  Drain the pasta, but don’t do too thorough a job – you need a little water still in the pasta, to loosen up the sauce.
  • Crumble the goat cheese into the drained pasta, turn the heat on low, and toss until the cheese melts and coats the pasta.  Add the greens and toss until they wilt.  Drizzle the olive oil over – no more than 1/4 cup – and season to taste with salt and pepper.
  • That’s it!

Source: Adapted from Everyday Pasta, by Giada de Laurentiis

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Apple and Pecan Salad with Goat Cheese

I’ve sung the praises of salad on here before, I know.  It is a wonderful way to get lots of nutrients in a light dish, it’s endlessly adaptable to the seasons, it’s a snap to put together after a long day… is there anything bad about salad?  If there is, it’s just that salad can sometimes be a bit boring.  But that’s easily fixed – the trick is to make sure there is plenty of visual interest, different flavors and textures, and variety from night to night.  If you treat salads like a meal, making an effort to get plenty of different colors onto the plate and adding a protein, you’ll happily eat them for the rest of your life and never get bored.

I love this particular salad in the fall.  It has some of my favorite flavors – crisp apples, crunchy-sweet pecans, and creamy goat cheese – all tossed with greens and wrapped in a tangy honey mustard vinaigrette.  Best of all, it’s put together from ingredients I almost always have on hand.  It does what the best dinner salads do – provide a healthy but filling dinner on five minutes’ prep.  It’s a winner.

Apple and Pecan Salad with Goat Cheese

2 cups mixed greens
2 apples, sliced thinly
2 ounces goat cheese (I like Laura Chenel), crumbled
1/2 cup pecans, toasted (substitute walnuts if desired)
2 tablespoons honey mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

  • Divide the greens evenly into two bowls.  Add half of the following to each bowl: sliced apples, toasted pecans, crumbled goat cheese.  Toss gently to combine.
  • To make the vinaigrette, simply combine the mustard, honey, vinegar and olive oil in a clean jar and shake briskly until the dressing is emulsified.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and shake again to combine.  (Nota Baker: This makes way more dressing than you will need for the salad.  I like to make mine in a tupperware container with a lid and a spout and store it in the fridge.  It will keep for quite some time – I’m not sure how long, because I’ve never been able to keep the stuff in the house long enough for it to go bad!  In the fridge, the dressing will solidify; don’t worry about that.  Just let it come up to temperature and then shake it again to recombine all of the ingredients before using it.  It’s wonderful on all types of salads, not just this one.)

Yield: Serves two

Source: Covered In Flour

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Farfalle with Broccoli

When I was a kid, I hated broccoli.  H-A-T-E-D it.  The smell, the taste, the frightening green color… broccoli made me shudder.  Then, as often happens, I grew up.  And – who’da thunk? – now I adore broccoli and green is my favorite color.  But still, as much as I love broccoli now, I don’t reach for it in the grocery store.  I’ll load my plate up with it if someone else cooks it, but for some reason, it doesn’t occur to me to actually buy broccoli and cook it myself.  It’s as if my subconscious mind is still stuck in my childhood, at least at 8:00 on Saturday mornings when I’m at Wegmans.  Or I’m just too busy putting five English cucumbers into my cart… I’m not sure which it is.

Since it seems stupid to love a vegetable so much but never cook it, I have embarked on a quest to find and cook broccoli recipes.  I like to roast broccoli, sure – I’ll roast any vegetable I get near – but I think that broccoli deserves a special treatment.  After all, what better way can there be to make up for all those years of demeaning and disparaging broccoli than to find some creative and exciting ways to cook it now?  Here’s one way – saute/steamed, with a rich sauce and Parmesan cheese, tossed with farfalle pasta.  Look, Mom, I’m eating my broccoli!

Farfalle with Broccoli

1/2 pound farfalle pasta
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 anchovy fillets, minced
2 heads broccoli, chopped into florets
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
grated Parmesan, to taste (optional)

  • Cook the pasta to al dente according to the package directions.
  • While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter into the olive oil in a medium saute pan (with a cover) over medium-low heat.  When the butter and olive oil are melted and blended together, add the garlic, anchovy fillets and red pepper flakes and allow to cook for 5 minutes, until fragrant.
  • Add the broccoli to the butter sauce and toss to coat.  Cover the saute pan and allow the broccoli to steam until the pasta is done cooking.
  • When the pasta is finished cooking, toss it with the broccoli and sauce in a large serving bowl.  If necessary, add a little pasta water to thin and evenly distribute the sauce.  Finish with grated Parmesan to taste, if desired.

Yield: Serves 4 for a main course or 8 for sides

Source: Adapted from Everyday Pasta, by Giada de Laurentiis

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Cranberry Bean and Spinach Risotto

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Risotto is one of my all-time favorite fall and winter dishes, and I’ve experimented with so many different recipes over the few years that I’ve been cooking.  Sausage, tomato and spinach risotto, mushroom and pea risotto, champagne risotto with lobster… these have all made repeat appearances on my table, some on special occasions and some on chilly weeknights.  Risotto is simple to make, yet it never fails to impress.  It has become a staple in my kitchen… so I can’t believe it took me this long to try risotto with beans.  I mean, I love risotto, and I love beans.  Put them together and it’s how-come-I-didn’t-think-of-this-sooner good.

This recipe calls for cranberry beans, which are an heirloom bean varietal that I order online from Rancho Gordo.  I’d strongly encourage you to seek out heirloom cranberry beans for this recipe, whether it is through Rancho Gordo, your local farmers market or co-op, or another source.  However, if you are really at a loss for cranberry beans in your neighborhood, and you don’t want to order online, you can substitute dried pinto beans from the supermarket.  Under no circumstances, however, can you use canned beans!  Please trust me on this one.  The key to this risotto’s unbelievable deliciousness is the rice absorbing all of the beans’ pot liquor, which is what bean people call the magical substance that the bean water turns into after the beans have been cooking for a couple of hours.  The pot liquor absolutely makes this dish, and you won’t get it from canned beans.  I’m not saying that canned beans don’t have their role to play – believe me, if that was the case I wouldn’t have to dodge falling cans of cannellini beans every time I open up my crammed pantry.  But canned beans just don’t belong in this dish.  It’s as simple as that.

Cranberry Bean and Spinach Risotto

1/2 cup dried cranberry beans (or pinto, in a pinch)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 shallot, medium-diced
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups (approx.) low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups baby spinach
1/3 cup Parmeggiano Reggiano

  • Start soaking the beans 12-24 hours in advance.  Place the beans in the pot in which you plan to cook them, cover with about an inch of water, put the lid on the pot and allow the beans to soak.  (The longer you soak the beans, the less time you will have to spend cooking them.)

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  • After the beans have been soaking for a ridiculous length of time, start cooking them: just crank up the heat, bring the beans to a boil, then reduce down to a simmer for an hour or two hours or more.  How long you will cook the beans depends on how fresh they are (yes, there are variations in freshness, even amongst dried beans) and how creamy you like them.  You can tell the beans are done when the entire kitchen smells magical.  Test a bean for doneness periodically, if you think they might be getting close.  Once the beans are cooked through, season them with salt; don’t rush this step.  Seasoning the beans before they are done cooking will make them tough.  So really, wait until the beans are done before you go tossing in a handful of salt.
  • When the beans are cooked through and the pot liquor is aromatic, pour in four cups of chicken stock and allow the mixture to come to a simmer.
  • Meanwhile, melt a tablespoon of butter with a tablespoon of olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the shallot, season with salt and pepper, and cook until softened.  Add the arborio rice and toast until shimmering.
  • Pour in the wine and stir the rice until it absorbs the wine.  Working a ladleful or two at a time, continue adding liquid from the broth and bean mixture, adding more when the previous addition has absorbed.  (Nota Baker: It is an urban legend that you have to stir risotto constantly.  You don’t.  I have never made a risotto that I stirred constantly.  You do, however, have to keep an eye on it and stir it often enough that the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.  I like to stick around and clean the kitchen while I make risotto; that way I am on the premises to stir it plenty, but I am not obsessing.  The bottom line is, you do need to stir and stir often, but you don’t have to spend 30 minutes hunched over the stove stirring obsessively.)
  • When you have ladled the majority of the liquid in and it’s mostly beans left in the bean pot, begin ladling the beans in at a bit of a faster clip.  Allow any liquid that came over with the beans in each ladle to absorb before the next ladle.
  • Once all the beans have moved over to the risotto – it will have taken on a beautiful burnished golden color; that’s from the pot liquor – add the spinach and stir until wilted.  Finish the risotto off with some grated Parmeggiano Reggiano cheese, or any other cheese/cream/butter routine that you typically do for risotto.  Serve with a little extra cheese grated on top, if desired.

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Source: Adapted from Heirloom Beans, by Steve Sando

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Chinese Cashew Chicken

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I love Chinese food.  Part of what I love about it, I can’t deny, is the convenience – there are some days when I’m working late and I know that I am going to get home at the end of the dinner hour, maybe 8:30 or so, still hungry but much too tired to start cooking.  On those kind of nights, having Chinese takeout waiting for me is one of the ways that my hubby shows me he loves me.  Still, it’s not the healthiest option there is, especially when you add spring rolls to the equation.  I always feel a little bit guilty…

I do love the flavors of Chinese food, both the high-end restaurant food and our little takeout place, but I always wonder what’s in it that makes it taste so good.  Making a Chinese-style entree at home has been on my list for awhile; I’ve been hoping to trim the fat a little and find out more about those flavors that I enjoy.  This Cashew Chicken is perfect for that.  It is quickly sauteed, instead of breaded and deep fried, so it’s lighter than a takeout entree by far.  And I modified the original recipe to include wilted bok choy for some green – so much the better!  Next time you are in the mood for Chinese food, don’t reach for the phone.  Reach for the cashews instead, and whip up this lighter treat.

Chinese Cashew Chicken

1 1/2 pounds (or thereabouts) skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cubed
2 tablespoons dry sherry
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
3 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
kosher salt
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup unsalted cashews, toasted briefly
1 head bok choy, in ribbons
1 recipe cooked white rice, for serving

  • In a medium bowl, combine cubed chicken with sherry, ginger, 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch, and salt to season.  Marinate the mixture in the refrigerator 30 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine chicken broth, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar and 2 teaspoons cornstarch.  Set aside.
  • When the chicken is finished marinating, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil until shimmering in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add the chicken and saute until golden brown and completely cooked (in batches if necessary so as not to crowd the pan) and transfer to a plate.
  • In the same skillet, add another tablespoon of oil and wilt the bok choy.  When the bok choy is completely wilted, add the cashews and grated garlic; cook about 30 seconds while moving the garlic around constantly with your spoon.  Return the chicken to the skillet and pour the sauce over.  Toss everything together about 30 seconds, until the sauce thickens.
  • Serve over cooked white rice.

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Source: Adapted from Everyday Food, October 2009

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Chez Panisse and Point Reyes

On the Tuesday of our vacation, we ventured out of the wine country for a gorgeous 6-mile hike at Point Reyes National Seashore and dinner amongst my people (hippies) in Berkeley… at the famed Chez Panisse.  I’m a huge fan of Alice Waters and have been dying to visit Chez Panisse ever since I first read The United States of Arugula.  Chez Panisse is actually two restaurants in one: an a la carte cafe upstairs, and a prix fixe fine dining establishment downstairs.  Hubby and I couldn’t get reservations for the prix fixe restaurant, so we had reserved a table in the cafe.  However, when we got to the restaurant we were able to get into the downstairs dining room after all.  Hubby had the traditional menu, which included a pork dish, and I ordered the vegetarian option.  The food was delicious.  Behold…

First course – bean and heirloom tomato toasts.  The bean toast, which had a garlicky bean puree topped with creamy whole beans, was my favorite, but the tomatoes were unbelievably delicious as well, and I enjoyed them immensely after the East Coast tomato blight had deprived me of much tomatoey goodness this summer.

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Second course – vegetable fritto misto with a spicy dipping sauce.  Crispy, crunchy and wonderful.  Hubby’s meat-lovers option had seafood fritto misto, which I tried and enjoyed as well, though I think I liked the vegetables better.

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I was very hungry, as you can imagine after a 6-mile hike in the blazing sun, and forgot to take a picture of my entree before digging in.  Hubby had a pork chop, and my veggie substitute was a stuffed poblano pepper, which was extraordinarily spicy.  (Maybe a little too spicy for my wussy palate.  I’d never survive in Texas.)  The only thing that I wasn’t crazy about, was the fact that the sides were the same – sauteed greens with raisins – for both dishes.  I thought the side dish would have gone better with the pork chop than with the stuffed poblano, with which it seemed a little disjointed.  But don’t get me wrong, it was awesome.

Dessert was a flavorful tart of the season’s first Jonathan apples and huckleberries:

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Continuing the tradition of telling you exactly how hubby and I managed to work up an appetite for the unbelievable dinner, I’ll share a few pics of our 6-mile hike at Point Reyes National Seashore, which we did before driving to Berkeley.

Incredible view up the coastline:

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Hubby takes in the scenery:

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(Perhaps the most hilarious thing that happened on this trip happened on our Point Reyes hike.  We passed a young family with a little girl, maybe three years old, riding on her father’s shoulders.  She pointed at the hubs and shouted “Look, Daddy, a bear!”  Then, sounding crestfallen, she corrected herself: “Oh.  It’s a guy.”  I almost fell over, I was laughing so hard.)

Elk (we actually got a lot closer than this picture makes it seem; they were awesome):

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Point Reyes was a beautiful hike, but needless to say, we arrived in Berkeley hot, famished, and covered in dust.  The kind folks at Chez Panisse took us in and fed us, an absolutely superb meal, and I’m still thinking about those bean and tomato toasts…

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Quinoa Stuffed Squash

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My market is overflowing with different varieties of squash lately.  Yesterday, I went shopping for a boring old Butternut and came home with two Delicatas and a big, blue-green Hubbard instead.  The Hubbard is destined to become soup (I just bought my copy of Anna Thomas’s Love Soup and squash soup is first on my list) but I bought the Delicatas just for play, and I knew I wanted to stuff one.  With quinoa and chickpeas complementing the squash, this is a tasty and healthy dinner.  If you add cheese to the top, as I have noted as an option below, you will find that the melted cheese will keep the quinoa moist underneath.  If you skip the cheese, there will be a crispy quinoa crust over the top of the stuffing, which hubby really enjoyed.

This is a wonderful vegan (or vegetarian, if you add cheese) entree for fall, and I think it would be a spectacular addition to a vegetarian Thanksgiving table.  Quinoa is a wonderful ancient American grain, with more protein than most other grains.  It doesn’t hurt, either, that it’s incredibly pretty, cooking up as light and fluffy little spirals of goodness.  Red quinoa is particularly gorgeous, and that’s what I used here – you can still see the red centers and the little white swirls. 

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See how pretty?  Anyway, quinoa’s mild nutty flavor is a perfect foil for spices such as ancho chili powder and cumin, creamy beans, and sweet winter squash.  Enjoy in good health!

Quinoa Stuffed Squash

1/2 cup quinoa
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 Delicata (or other small squash)
kosher salt
extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup shredded cheddar (optional)

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Make the quinoa according to the package directions.  When the quinoa is finished cooking, add most of the chickpeas (reserving about 2 tablespoons), the chili powder, and the cumin, and stir to combine.  Stir in salt to taste and drizzle olive oil over the top.

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  • Split the squash lengthwise, carefully, with the knife blade always pointing away from you.  Clean the stringy inside (and reserve the seeds if desired; they’re great for roasting).  Lay the squash, cut sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet or in a small roasting dish.
  • Drizzle a little olive oil over the cut sides of the squash and season with kosher salt.  Add the reserved chickpeas to the bottom of the squash wells – about 1 tablespoon each.  (If desired, sprinkle a little of the grated cheddar in as well – but not all of it.) 

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  • Spoon the quinoa stuffing over the chickpeas, until it piles up a little.  Drizzle olive oil over the top for moistness.  If desired, sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the stuffing.  (I skipped this and made these vegan, but I do think they would be delicious with a cheesy crust.)
  • Bake 1 hour, drizzling a little extra olive oil over as needed (only if you skipped the cheese).  Serve with green salad for a great, autumnal, vegetarian meal.

Source: Covered In Flour, inspired by Vegetarian Times