A Seasonal Delight for Organizing Day

I grew up in New York City where everybody knows the famous Zabar's Deli on the upper West side of Manhattan. Today's recipe is from their newsletter and offers a delicious way to feed your brain and tempt your palette on organizing day.  You might also want to waft over to www.Zabars.com and sign up for their newsletter. They ship goodies all across the country so you can delight family and friends with thoughtful and unique gifts for the holidays.

Roasted Squash with Wild Rice
by Andrew Regnier, Zabar's Executive Chef

 Serves 6 – 8 people, 6 total squash halves

INGREDIENTS
1 ½ cup wild rice
2/3 carrot (shreded on cheese grater)
1 medium yellow onion (diced small)
1 red bell pepper (diced small)
1 cup corn, frozen or fresh
½ cup dried cranberries
1 bunch baby spinach (cleaned)
3 cups vegetable stock or water
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons Olive oil or melted butter
½ Tablespoon brown sugar
Optional: 1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds
3 small acorn squash or small pie pumpkins, sweet dumpling squash or carnival squash (at the store we use any of the above)

PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cut the squash in half length wise and clean out the cavity of seeds and fibers. Coat the inside with olive oil or butter, a ½ teaspoon salt and brown sugar. Place the squash cut side up on a backing sheet or Pyrex dish and bake approximately 25 minutes until just soft, then turn over to drain any liquid.

To cook the wild rice: Use 1½ cup of uncooked wild rice with 3 cups of vegetable stock and simmer slowly until the rice begins to pop open, about 30-40 minutes.

In a sauce pan sauté the onion, bell pepper, carrot and corn. When the rice is ready combine the rice, sautéed vegetables, baby spinach, remaining ½ teaspoon salt and dried cranberries.

Stuff the squash with the entire mixture and reheat in a 350 degree oven before serving.

Enjoy!