Thanksgiving Hangover

Autumn in a Squash Shell

Thanksgiving was a Week Ago–What Would You Make Again and Bring to Work?

As Thanksgiving progressed this year, it became clear to me that it might turn into a lesson on making unique and attractive food side-journeys rather than learning how to make a proper turkey. Out of the depths of the cooking extravagance that is American Thanksgiving came three particularly interesting parts of the meal:

• Delia Smith’s bread sauce,

• Cooki Collinet’s Cranberry Relish, and

• a Bon Appetit recipe for wild rice-stuffed acorn squash.

Delia Smith in a Gravy Boat

These three dining event accents are elements that I would use at just about any dinner. And the acorn squash stuffed with wild rice looked perfect for a reheated lunch at work. I can easily imagine making these ahead of time and then placing them in tupperware for work–pulling out on of these golden squash will blow your colleagues’ minds.

I’ll dole these recommendations out one blog-post at a time, so I don’t overwhelm. Let’s begin with the squash as it seemed the easiest. Now, that’s easy for me to say, as I didn’t have to slice and seed the squash. Cooki told Georges to slice them horizontally, and then seed. Roasting them should have been easier. Instead, not listening to his wife, he sliced them from stem to stern and then looked a whole lot prettier. Not practical, but pretty.

The recipe is a fairly easy to assemble.

Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash

First bake the scooped out squash shells for 30 minutes to 40 minutes at 375 degrees. Take them out and let them cool.

Ready for Dinner

Make one cup of wild rice according to the instructions, then quickly fry up onion with some garlic in oil or butter with salt and pepper add in the chopped herbs near the end, as the onions begin to carmelize.

1/4 stick of butter

2 T lemon juice

2 T crumbled sage leaves

1/3 c chopped dried apricots

1/3 c chopped pecans

1 c finely chopped onions

1-2 garlic cloves minced

Garish of pomegranate seeds and with 1/8 c of finely minced parsley

Wow the visual! And the taste is very nice. These can be done waaaaaay ahead of time and then reheated in the oven just before dinner. Just stick back in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes, if the squash have been sitting at room temperature for the afternoon, add in the cooked rice mixture, and it’ll be ready in 25 little minutes to eat right there.

Or you could bring them to a friend’s house as a side dish, just finish them in your friend’s oven. Let them know ahead of time, but they’ll probably be grateful for the fancy touch to their fall/winter table.

Now imagine bringing these beauties to work!

The reheating solution here, is to refrigerate them overnight and then by the time you get to work, just don’t put them in the fridge when you arrive at 9 a.m. By the time 1 p.m. rolls around, you’ll just need to nuke them for a few minutes slowly. If at room temperature when you start, just cover and start microwaving at 30 seconds. Then let this rest for a minute. 30 more seconds and then place into the toaster oven to finish. Just put on “toast” like you are going to toast a slice of bread until dark or medium dark.

Funny, work places with toaster ovens provide the best lunchtime options, really, for reheating food. You can almost simulate home cooking.

I also think that you could just put the squash in the toaster oven on 400 for 20 minutes if you start with a room temperature squash, and it’ll be ready, tasting like you had made it at home.

One last option, if you get your squash fully thawed before you begin, you can also just scoop out the rice concoction separately and then reheat just the rice. Microwave the squash shell for about one minute separately. Once they’re both done, scoop rice back into the hot shell and toast. This final option should provide you the best approximation of what you had when you made it at home earlier in the week.

Finishing the Dish:

Another nice touch is to finish it with a chicken or turkey-based jus. Make your stock or use some from the Swanson’s box. I’m a big believer in Swansons. Then first fry up a little finely diced onion and a touch of garlic in butter, add in one tablespoon of flour and stir while it gets hot. Add in stock, until it has the consistency of a thin gravy. You don’t want a thick gravy here.

Coming Soon: Cooki's Cranberry Relish

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