Stuffed acorn squash with wild rice, cranberries and feta
Maple-roasted acorn squash halves filled with nutty wild rice, kale, tart cranberries, toasted pecans and salty feta, like fall on a plate.
- 75 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.28 a serving
- 540 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 2 acorn squash
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 cup wild rice blend
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 2 cups kale, stems removed, chopped
- 4 sprigs fresh sage, leaves chopped
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- ⅓ cup pecans, chopped
- ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1½ tsp salt, divided
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 540 calories, 10 g protein, 80 g carbs and 22 g fat, and costs about $3.28 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No kale? Baby spinach works.
- No feta cheese? Goat cheese works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 400°F. the squash from stem to tip and scoop out the seeds.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Halve. Halving means cutting something into two equal pieces. Even halves cook at the same speed, so one doesn’t dry out while the other finishes.
How you’ll know: The two pieces look like mirror images of each other.
Dolly’s tip: Acorn squash is hard. Set it on a towel so it can’t roll, and push the knife in slowly with your palm flat on the back of the blade.Brush the insides with 1 tablespoon oil and the maple syrup, sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and cut side down on a until tender, 30 to 35 minutes.
Roast. Roasting means cooking in a hot oven, around 400°F to 450°F, usually spread out on a sheet pan. The dry heat browns the outside and brings out sweetness, especially in vegetables.
How you’ll know: The edges are browned and a little crisp, and a fork slides easily into the thickest piece.
Sheet pan. A sheet pan is a flat metal baking tray with a low rim all the way around. The rim catches juices, and the wide surface lets food spread out and brown.
How you’ll know: Everything fits in one layer with a little space between the pieces.
Timer: 32 min
Meanwhile, bring the wild rice, broth and ½ teaspoon salt .
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover and over low until tender, following your package, usually 25 to 40 minutes.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 30 min
any extra liquid.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Heat the rest of the oil in a over medium heat. Cook the onion and celery for 5 minutes, then the kale, sage and of salt until the kale , 2 to 3 minutes.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Medium heatTimer: 8 min
Stir the rice, cranberries, pecans, half the feta and the pepper into the kale.
Flip the squash, pile the filling in, top with the rest of the feta and until hot, 10 minutes.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Timer: 10 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
