This recipe was introduced to me for the holidays from my friend, Chef Martin Oswald at Pyramid Bistro in Aspen, Colorado (www.pyramidbistro.com). I was instantly in love! True to form for Chef Martin’s food, it has a rich depth of flavor – the apricots add a wonderful sweet-tartness, the veggies play well together, and the chopped pecans and sage send it over the top. It truly tastes like the holidays, and it has rapidly become a favorite dish in our house!
Serves 2
- Ingredients:
- -1 large acorn squash (or other squash of choice)
- -1 shallot, diced
- -2 cloves garlic, diced
- -1/4 cup celery, diced
- -¼ cup red peppers diced, reserve 1 tablespoon for garnish
- -½ cup quinoa, cooked as per directions
- -2 tablespoons pecans, chopped
- -1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
- -1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- -2 tablespoons raw cashews blended or processed in about 2 tablespoons of water = homemade cashew butter, (or 2 tablespoons cashew butter)
- -2 teaspoons fresh sage, chopped
- -1/4 cup dried unsulfured apricots, diced
- -pinch of cayenne pepper
- Instructions:
- Cut squash in half, remove seeds, and bake face down on for 45 minutes at 350°F.
- Water sauté garlic, shallots, celery, and pepper for 5 minutes in a large pan. Add quinoa, pecans, vinegar, nutritional yeast, cashew butter, sage, apricots, and cayenne. Combine the mixture and stuff the acorn squash. Bake the stuffed acorn squash for 15 more minutes and serve with a sprinkling of diced peppers on top.
- -Makes 2 halves (recipe doubled in picture above)
