Millet and Miso stuffed Acorn Squash & Sriracha Dressing

Lining my bookshelves is a collection of classic cookbooks collected over years, from Larousse to Julia Child, that allow for periodic indulgences at dinner time.

More recently the collection has undergone a renaissance, balancing those trusted old favorites with a new genre. Ancient Grains for Modern Meals,  Feast generous vegetarian meals, not to mention Ottolenghi’s Plenty are just some of the great modern cookbooks whose focus is on grains and widely vegetarian recipes. At the zen of slow cooking we continue to explore the individual merits of some lesser well known grains like millet, farro and spelt in our contemporary slow cooking setting.

As January fades, for our final week of Zen Cooking Light, I poured over those books and chose millet as the foundation for a miso, raisin and pine nut stuffed acorn squash. Millet is not only gluten free but serves as a good source of B vitamins, magnesium and other minerals. It absorbs the liquid to puff up into fluffy, light grains. To balance the sweetness of the squash and raisins, the savory of the chives and miso, add the sriracha spiced yoghurt dressing.

Ingredients

non stick oil spray

2 acorn squash, halved and de-seeded

1 cup millet or quinoa

½ can garbanzo beans

½ cup raisins

1 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp black pepper

3 tbsp fresh chives, snipped

¼ cup lemon juice

2 tbsp white miso paste

olive oil

4 tbsp pine nuts, toasted

Dressing

2 tsp sriracha sauce

1 tbsp lime juice

¼ cup plain yoghurt

Spray the insert of your slow cooker with non stick spray. On a chopping board, halve the acorn squash and scoop out the seeds.

In a separate bowl, add the millet, garbanzo beans, raisins, garlic powder, black pepper, 2 tbsp of the chives. Mix the lemon juice, miso and 2/3 cup water in a cup and pour over the millet mixture. Stir well.

Spoon the millet filling into the acorn squash. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or HIGH for 3. Mix the ingredients for the sriracha dressing in a small bowl.

Once cooked, remove from the slow cooker and sprinkle with the remaining snipped chives and toasted pine nuts. Serve with the sriracha dressing alongside.

Zen Moment

“January is here, with eyes that keenly glow,
A frost-mailed warrior
striding a shadowy steed of snow.”
–  Edgar Fawcett