Fall Red Quinoa Salad

After making the stuffed acorn squash last week, and having the fantastic leftovers - I was really craving the dish again just a few days later. I purchased an acorn squash to make it again...but then realized that I was just cooking for myself and remembered how much food we had last week!! Thus I substituted butternut squash for the acorn squash since I had just picked a small one up at the farmer's market. It didn't have any garbanzo beans but that was OK, I figured I had enough ingredients to make this dish substantial. My vision was an israeli couscous salad with butternut squash and a filling mush like that of the stuffed acorn squash. It sounded so wonderful, I was thinking about it all day. You can imagine my sadness then when I realized that I only had a little bit of israeli couscous left at home and the ratio would simply be off if I used it as my grain. Luckily I had red quinoa on the bench and called it into play.

My dish turned into something quite different from its original inspiration but ended up being almost equally delicious - with the spices still coming from the original source.

Another key new element to this inspired recipe was persimmon. We had received two persimmons in our fruit/vegetable shipment and had not yet found a use for them. I figured the persimmon would add a touch of sweetness when sauteed in the savory spices. I took a risk - it paid off.

Without knowing exactly what I did - here's my best guess:

1 small butternut squash, peeled, chopped
1 tsp. brown sugar
EVOO
1/2 cup red quinoa
1 cup vegetable broth
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 small persimmons, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup golden raisins, chopped
2 cups spinach
1.5 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp. cinnamon, divided
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
salt
pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss butternut squash cubes with 1/8 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp EVOO, and 1 tsp. brown sugar. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, until just tender.

Mix vegetable stock and quinoa together in a pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low for about 15 minutes until the liquid is absorbed (ratio for quinoa/liquid is about 1:2). Set aside.

While the butternut squash is roasting, heat EVOO in a pan. Add the garlic and onion and sweat for about 3 minutes over medium heat, stirring to make sure it does not brown. Add the carrots, celery and spices. Cook for another 7-10 minutes, until the carrot begins to tenderize. If you need to add a bit of liquid, throw in a little vegetable broth or water at this point. Add the persimmons and golden raisins. Saute for another 3 minutes. Add the spinach and roasted butternut squash. Stir until the spinach is just wilted. Season with salt and pepper.

Mix vegetable saute with the cooked quinoa. Stir to mix. Adjust seasoning if needed.

I think that's about spot on to what I did. I did add some liquid to the vegetable saute so it didn't burn and so it didn't dry out. Even though I was a bit bummed out that I wouldn't be eating my beloved israeli couscous, I was pretty happy with how this turned out. It still didn't wow me like my stuffed acorn squash did, but it was a healthy and hearty meal. I even had leftovers that I threw on top of a bed of spinach and ate cold.

It had sweetness (raisins, persimmons, cinnamon, carrots) and savory/hearty (quinoa, celery, spinach)-- ok so maybe it was sweeter than I thought, but that blends so well with cumin and cinnamon...so it was a pretty good blend. I would never serve this to guests because it isn't beautiful and isn't built to impress. But if I'm cooking just for myself and craving something healthy and interesting - it would certainly fit the bill.