monkeybard | Food Pr0n!

Thanks to the lovely and brilliant

sabdapranam, I fixed a delicious dinner tonight. She mentioned caprese salad and stuffed squash the other day when I asked for suggestions. I didn't get to make them before, but I finally got to make them this evening.

We all know what caprese salad is, so I'll expound on the stuffed squash, all right? Good.

First off, I cut the top half (give or take) off a butternut squash and scooped out the guts. Two people to feed, I really only needed the bottom half. I coated the outside in olive oil and put a dollop of butter on the inside with some S&P.

Then I sauteed in more olive oil diced mushroom, red onion, red bell pepper, and dried apricots. Added in a bit of S&P, some crushed cumin seed, coriander seed, cardamom, and cinnamon, plus a few tiny threads of saffron. Stirred in half a cup of red lentils and sauteed it all to blend the flavours. Poured in a bit of chicken stock ('cause that's what was open in the fridge) to get the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan. Spooned the stuffing into the squash (not packing it down, thankyoualtonbrown), poured in more stock, and baked it on a cookie sheet for about an hour at 400F. O! so good! The top bit of stuffing got a little crunchy, but everything else was perfect. So glad there are leftovers! I will make this one again. :D