Wow, did this come out better than I’d anticipated. I was definitely just winging it with this recipe, which is a fun riff on a tagine, but slightly tweaked. Also, man, do I ever love acorn squash. Yum Yum.
The Goods:
At least 2 or 3 good-sized acorn squash, halved and the seeds scooped out
quinoa, about 1 cup uncooked (but you’re going to need to cook it)
1 can chickpeas
1 can diced tomatoes (or somewhere between 1.5 and 2 cups of diced fresh tomatoes)
raisins
cinnamon, cumin, paprika
salt, pepper
1 smallish red onion diced
garlic, minced
maple syrup or honey
olive oil (I prefer extra virgin, but feel free to use whatever you’ve got)
The method:
Mix some syrup (or honey) with some oil and brush that onto the cut sides (and inside the hole you scooped out) of the acorn squash. Roast , cut sides up, in a greased baking dish at 350 for 45 min or so until soft and a bit dark around the edges. You will end up with a little pool of oil and syrup in the center of each squash half – that’s totally okay!
While your squashes are roasting, cook the quinoa in water. Fluff and set aside.
While THAT is going, get the rest of the filling going, if you’ve got the burner space. Sautee the onion and garlic until soft, and add the tomatoes. Bring that to a simmer and add your seasonings. Rinse and drain the chickpeas and add those to the tomato mixture as well. Throw in a handful of raisins. Bring that all to a simmer. Taste. If it’s super watery, cook off some of that liquid (or pour it off, if it just doesn’t seem to be evaporating). If it’s dry, add some water. You don’t want a soupy situation, but you want enough liquid that the quinoa will absorb some of it and not have a dry filling.
Add your chickpea-tomato goo to your quinoa. Mix well, taste again. Add some more seasnoning if needed. Set aside until squash are done roasting.
Scoop some filling into each squash. You can mound it up, it won’t go anywhere.
Return filled squashes to oven for at least another 20 minutes or until everything is heated through and the top of the filling has dried out a little bit.
Optional: serve with plain or garlicky yogurt. Yum!
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