Delicata Squash roasted with miniature vegetables
Ingredients
delicata squash
4 pearl onions
2 mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
12 peas
1 string bean
1 carrot sliced
1 Tbsp almond milk
1 Tbsp spelt flour
Preparation
Slice the delicata in half and roast at 425º F oven for 20 minutes. Lay cut side down. Now if you wish a simple dinner, these are great as they are, served just plain. Their sweetness is outstanding. Delicata is a long slender golden squash that tastes so sweet; when first tasted in Chicago, I questioned the chef if any added sugar or honey had been added to the roasted squash? He told me no, that was exactly the flavor of the squash enhanced with a freshly ground spice–nutmeg. Slice it in half, scoop out the seeds (dry the seeds for planting at a later date), and lay it upside down and bake on a glass or stainless steel cookie sheet for about 20 minutes.
For a more complex meal which we had eaten at Jean Bardet in France, he roasted delicata squash and stuffed it with miniature vegetables. Wrap the individual miniature vegetables in parchment paper and roast the vegetables in the oven at the same time as the squash. The paper will capture the concentrated vegetable juices. Blend these juices with almond milk and spelt flour to make a white sauce. Place the miniature vegetables within the squash boats and pour the white sauce over all. Lightly season with Himalayan pink salt and a few twists of the pepper mill. Bon appetite.
This can also be stuffed with quinoa. Although not a common item in most kitchens today, quinoa is an amino acid rich protein seed that has a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor. Quinoa is available in local markets throughout the year. Most commonly considered a grain, quinoa is actually a relative of leafy green vegetable like Swiss chard. It is a recently rediscovered ancient grain once considered the gold of the Incas. However quinoa is high in oxalates.
