Kabo-cha: Why don’t cha?

Hello members, welcome to week 21! We have a butternut squash casserole, 2 kabocha squash recipes, a slow cooker sweet potato soup, and a cool weather kale salad recipe for you.  We also carved some pumpkins this weekend and wanted to share:

 

Enjoy the recipes! We’ll see you next week for the last recipe blog post of the season!

Maple Butternut Squash and Apple Casserole

• 1 1/2 lbs. butternut squash, washed, peeled, and chopped into 1 inch cubes
• 3 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp curry powder (optional or add less)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 small apples, cored and chopped into cubes
• 3 1/2 -4 Tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp cider vinegar
• 2-3 cups cooked brown basmati rice (or your choice of cooked rice)
• 3-4 Tbsp pumpkin seeds (optional)
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Wash squash and microwave on high for 3 minutes to soften. Now is a good time to cook the rice as well.  Peel and chop squash and place in a large bowl. Add in pumpkin seeds and stir again (we usually roast the seeds on their own).
2. Mix the melted butter, curry powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and 1 Tbsp syrup.  Add to the squash bowl and mix well.
3. Pour into a large casserole dish and cover with tinfoil.  Bake for 20 minutes.
4. While baking, core and chop apples.  In a small bowl, mix 2 Tbsp maple syrup and 1 Tbsp cider vinegar. Add chopped apples and mix well.
5. Remove squash from oven, add apple mixture and cooked rice, stir together.  Recover with foil and bake another 10 minutes.
6. Uncover the dish, stir, and sprinkle with brown sugar.  Bake another 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, uncovered.
7. Just before serving, drizzle with remaining Tbsp of syrup and a dash of cinnamon.

Here’s a link for the best way to cut and peel and kabocha squash:

http://pinchofyum.com/how-to-cut-and-peel-a-kabocha-squash

Heirloom Kabocha Squash Pie

• Pie crust of your choice
• 2 cups kabocha squash puree (see note below)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp bourbon or scotch
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• Puree: you need about a 2 lb. squash cut into chunks to get 2 cups puree.  Roast them in a pan covered with foil at 400 degrees until soft. Once soft you can peel the skin off the chunks.  Puree in a food processor.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together puree, sugars, cream, milk, eggs, and bourbon.  Stir in flour, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
3. Pour the mixture into a pie shell and bake for 45 minutes or until pie is set with slightly wobbly center.  Serve room temperature or chilled.

Stuffed Kabocha Squash

• 1 large or 2 medium kabocha squash
• 4 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1 Tbsp roughly chopped rosemary
• 1/2 tsp salt (more to taste)
• fresh cracked pepper
• 2 Tbsp EVOO

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cook quinoa per package instructions.
3. Cut squash in half, remove seeds, and coat insides and outsides with olive oil.
4. Place squash cut side down on roasting sheet, bake for 45 minutes.
5. While squash is cooking, dice onion and combine in a saute pan with 1 Tbsp olive oil and crushed garlic.  Cook over medium low heat until onions are translucent. Add rosemary and cook 1 more minute.
6. Combine quinoa, onion, pomegranate seeds, salt, and an additional Tbsp of olive oil.
7. Season quinoa mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Stuff the squash with filling and serve hot.

Crockpot Sweet Potato Wild Rice Soup

Serves 6-8

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 4 oz can of green chiles
•  32 oz chicken or vegetable broth
• 15 oz can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup short grain brown rice
• 1/4 cup wild rice
• 1 1/2 Tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 tsp sugar

1. Place olive oil and diced onions in the bottom of a slow cooker.  Turn to high and let warm for about 5 minutes.
2. Add all the other ingredients except beans, salt, and pepper.  Make sure all the rice is covered with liquid.
3. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours.
4. Remove lid, add beans, salt, and pepper and stir.  Add room temperature water if it needs more liquid.
5. Cover and cook 1 more hour.
6. Add more salt and pepper if needed.  Recommended: serve with corn bread.  Check out the Honey Pumpkin Corn Bread recipe from previous weeks for inspiration.

Pomegranate Kale Salad

For the salad:

• 1 cup pomegranate seeds
• 2 cups chopped kale (or other greens you have on hand)
• 2 cups cooked wild rice
• 1/4 toasted walnuts
• 1/4 feta cheese

For the dressing:

• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp water
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1/2 Tbsp cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 squeeze of lemon or orange juice

1. Prep the salad ingredients (chop, rinse, toast, etc.)
2. Mince the onion, saute in 1/2 Tbsp olive oil until soft and fragrant.
3. Pulse the onions with remaining oil, water, honey, vinegar, salt, and lemon/orange juice in a food processor until smooth and creamy.  Add additional olive oil or water to keep mixture moving through processor.
4. Toss salad ingredients with dressing.  Serve when the rice is warm, or room temperature, or chilled.  We like the rice warm.