- Recipes
- What To Make With
- Mushrooms
Dana Velden
Dana Velden
Dana Velden's first book, Finding Yourself in the Kitchen: Kitchen Meditations and Inspired Recipes from a Mindful Cook (Rodale Books) is available where ever books are sold. She lives in Oakland, CA.
updated Feb 5, 2020
Be the first to leave a review!
reviews
Jump to Recipe
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Here’s a vegan entrée that’s perfect for Thanksgiving, especially if you’re not into the whole fake meat, Tofurkey scene. Stuffed Delicata squash is a rich, flavorful, elegant dish that goes beautifully with many of the usual Thanksgiving sides. It’s a seasonal food that adds brightness and color to your plate. It’s easy to put together and the whole thing can be done in advance and reheated at the last minute.
The stuffing is flexible and can accommodate many dietary needs. For a gluten-free version, sub out the farro with cooked brown rice and be sure to use a wheat-free tamari, or replace the nuts with crumpled temeph for nut allergies. If you have some non-vegans in the crowd, you can grate a little Parmesan cheese over the top just before serving. Also, as mentioned in the notes, you can add a little heat with some dried chili or some citrus notes with grated orange. Use your imagination!
The Delicata boats add focus to the plate, creating a discrete main dish feel that won’t get lost in mounds of ‘sides.’ One of the beauties of Delicata squash (and many other thin-skinned squash) is that you can eat the skins! They’re delicious and add a little texture to the dish.
Serves 2 to 4
Ingredients
- 2
Delicata squash
- 1
large yellow onion, chopped into medium diced
- 2 tablespoons
grapeseed or canola oil
- 8 ounces
white mushrooms
- 2 cloves
garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons
soy sauce
- 1/2 cup
finely chopped pecans
- 1 cup
cooked farro (see notes)
- 1/2 cup
dried cranberries
Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup
mixed fresh herbs, minced very fine (for instance, 4 tablespoons parsley, 2 tablespoons sage and 2 tablespoons rosemary is a good combo.)
A little oil for brushing
Smoked paprika for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the Delicata in two lengthwise and carefully scoop out the seeds to make four long 'boats.' If the boats are too wobbly, take a very thin slice off of the bottom so they'll sit flat. Brush with oil and place in the oven and roast until they are soft and just starting to char a little, about 30-40 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large frying pan saute the onion in the grapeseed oil until it softens and just starts to turn brown. While the onions are cooking, clean the mushrooms and chop them somewhat finely (into chickpea-sized pieces.) When the onions are ready, raise the heat and add the mushrooms all at once. Spread them out so that they make as much contact with the hot pan as possible. You may need a little more oil at this point. When the mushrooms start to take on some color, stir them around a bit until they are browned and cooked through.
Turn off the heat and stir in the minced garlic. There should be enough heat left in the pan to start to cook the garlic. After about a minute, add the soy sauce which should deglaze the pan, again with any residual heat. If the pan has cooled too much, put a low flame underneath and scrape the bottom for any brown bits. When the pan is dry and the soy sauce absorbed, add the farro, nuts and dried cranberries and stir to combine. Taste for seasonings. It should be salty enough from the soy sauce but be sure to add several grindings of pepper.
Stir in half of fresh herbs and again taste, adding more herbs or pepper as needed. Remove the Delicata boats from the oven leaving the oven on. Using a soup spoon, fill the boats with the farro mixture, pressing lightly to pack them full and mounding them slightly. Return to the oven to heat everything through, about 8 to 10 more minutes. Place on a serving platter and sprinkle with remaining herbs and optional smoked paprika and serve hot.
You will probably have some stuffing left over. You can serve it on the side in a bowl or reheat it the next day as a part of the leftover feast.
Recipe Notes
• Be sure that your dried cranberries aren't too sweet. They're there to counter the sweetness of the fried onions and squash.
• You can use other nuts besides pecans such as walnuts or hazelnuts or a mixture of the three.
• I find that the flavors are complex enough here, making fancy mushrooms a bit of a waste but if you want to splurge a little, you could try making this with fresh shiitake.
• The fresh herbs are important to add brightness to this rich, savory dish. Dried herbs can be used (such as a teaspoon or two of dried sage and thyme) if fresh aren't available.
• The Delicata squash can be roasted and the filling made a day or two in advance. To serve, reheat the squash in a 350 degree oven and the filling in a pan on the stove. Stuff the squash and return to the oven to reheat if necessary. Finish with a final sprinkling of herbs.
• I toasted and cooked the farro according to this recipe, which produced a nutty, chewy grain. (Follow directions up until the line "Drain the farro.")
• You can also use 1 cup of cooked brown rice instead of the farro.
• If you like a little heat, crumble in a dried chili. Or grate the zest of 1/2 an orange into the stuffing before filling the boats to add a little citrus kick.
Related: Vegetarian Thanksgiving: Nutloaf! And Leftover Nutloaf!
(Images: Dana Velden)
Filed in:
dinner
Ingredient
Main Dish
Make Ahead
Mushrooms
thanksgiving
