Carnival Squashes Stuffed with a Lemon-Herb Rice Medley

I’m really excited about this recipe.  It looks so pretty plated, and the sweet flesh of the carnival squash (think sweet potatoes or butternut squash) paired with the nutty flavor of the rice medley and the fresh lemony-herby bursts is purely sublime.  You should easily be able to fill 5 squashes, halved.  Maybe more.  My assembly went something like… fill a squash half with stuffing, eat a few spoonfuls, repeat.  So I can’t say for sure.  Plan to serve one full squash per person if this is your main dish. 

Make sure you read the instructions thoroughly, get out all equipment/ingredients, wash your produce, and peel the carrot before you start.  If everything is ready to go, the recipe should take about an hour to make, give or take.  I served this squash dish with the orange-glazed beets (I added a garnish of toasted walnuts) from Vegan with a Vengeance and grape focaccia bread.  Yummy in my tummy!

Pretty Carnival Squash, pre-recipe

Carnival Squashes Stuffed with a Lemon-Herb Rice Medley 

5 carnival squashes, halved

2 cups rice medley, uncooked

*mine had wild rice, brown rice, red rice, and wheat berries

1 low sodium vegetable bouillon cube

6 cups water

4 cups loosely packed chiffonaded kale (cut into thin strips)

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 large softball-sized onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

zest and juice of 1 large lemon

1/2 teaspoon salt

several turns freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Then, start cooking the rice medley.  While bringing the water to a boil in a large stock pot, rinse the rice well using a small-holed strainer.  Once the water is boiling, add the rice and vegetable bouillon cube.  Cover and reduce heat to medium.  Simmer for 25 minutes.

While the rice is cooking, prepare the squashis.  Cut each squash in half top to bottom and scoop out the seeds.  Place cut side down on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes. 

While the rice and squashes cook, chiffonade the kale and set aside.  Zest and juice the lemon into a small bowl.  Add the salt and pepper and whisk with a fork to combine.  Set aside.  Chop the fresh herbs and set aside.  After the rice has finished cooking, add the kale to the brothy rice and give the mixture a quick stir.  Immediately strain and transfer to a large bowl.  Don’t forget to take the squashes out of the oven after 20 minutes.

Rice medley and kale mixture

Preheat a few tablespoons of water in a skillet on medium heat.  While the water is preheating, mince garlic and chop onion, celery, and carrot.  Add the onion and garlic to the skillet and sautee for 2-3 minutes, adding additional water by the tablespoon as needed to prevent sticking.  Add carrot and celery and sautee for 5 minutes or so until crisp tender, again adding water as needed.  Add to the rice/kale mixture.  Add both the lemon juice dressing and fresh herbs as well.  Stir to combine.  Scoop some of the flesh out of each squash half, taking care to leave enough flesh to hold the shape.  Add the excess squash to the rice mixture and stir gently to combine.

Sprinkle each squash half with a little salt and pepper; then with a spoon fill each half with the rice stuffing, creating a mound of the stuffing on top.  Bake the stuffed squashes for 10 minutes.  Season with an additional dash of salt and pepper.  Serve warm.

Ready for eating