Lentil and Wild Rice Stuffed Squash

As the holiday approaches, we are preparing tons of food.  We have thirteen people on Wednesday night and thirteen people on Thursday. And then on Friday, I check myself into a sanitarium to have my head examined.  Fortunately though, we have a large family, so everyone contributes something.  Sometimes though, we need a certain hard-to-find ingredient or item, and then we have to pool our knowledge of where such a thing might be located.

Tim and I pride ourselves on not needing our navigation system to get to pretty much anywhere local.  The other night though, I definitely should have been using it.

I was meeting some friends at a new place, and felt confident I could find it.

“If you get to the theater, you’ve passed it,” my friend warned me.  “But it’s right there on the main road. Also, there is parking around the back.”

Easy peasy.  Until I got to the theater. Seriously?  Grrrr.

So, I turned around…and apparently passed the building again. In rush hour, which was not an easy thing to do.

So, I turned around again….and got to the theater  again without seeing the building I was looking for.  What???!!!  Was I looking for Brigadoon?  How could I miss a multi-story building on a main road three times???  The nav system was starting to look good.

I finally found the building though, (yay me!) drove around the back, parked and went inside. Success!!!

Unfortunately for me and the maintenance guy I scared the socks off of since he was the only other person there,  it was the wrong building.

So I got back in the car and this time, decided to mix it up a bit by driving around the parking lot of a senior living community.  For about five minutes. Because as near as I could figure, they really don’t want anyone to ever leave since they made it pretty darn hard to find the exit again.  Hmmm.  Maybe it really was Brigadoon?  Except no-one was singing or dancing and I think security was getting ready to call the police to report a suspicious looking person staking out the place.  Who can’t find their way out of a parking lot?

At this point, my friend called me to find out where I was.  I explained that I was turning around, yet again, to take another stab at finding this mythical place.

“I’m standing outside, waving my arm,” she tried being helpful.  “I see you now! Blink your lights.”

“Um, I don’t think that’s me you’re looking at. I’m too far away.”

“Yes, you’re blinking your lights at me,” she replied.

“I’m the fourth car at a light on a side street that is probably a quarter of a mile away,” I told her.  “Pretty sure that’s not me.”

“Then who’s blinking their lights at me?”

Maybe Gene Kelly?  Would they by any chance be wearing a kilt and singing about someone called Bonnie Jean?

Seriously, next time could you maybe meet me at the retirement community?  I know where all the best parking spaces are.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 squash of choice (acorn, delicata, dumpling, etc.)
• 1 Tablespoon garlic oil
• 1/2 Tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 head of garlic
• 1/2 cup diced shallots
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup beluga lentils
• 1/2 cup wild rice
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 5 dates,  pit removed and chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Cut the squash in half (around the equator for rounder squash like dumpling) and scrape out the seeds.  Prick the inside with a fork.  Mix the syrup and the garlic oil together and brush the inside of the squash with the mixture.  Place the squash on a baking pan face up.  Cut the top of the head off of the garlic, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil.  Wrap up in a piece of foil.  Put the squash and the garlic into the oven and roast 30-40 minutes till both are tender (the larger the squash, the longer it takes.  The garlic head will take less time — 20-30 minutes). Remove from oven, cover the squash to keep it warm, but open up the foil around the garlic and let it cool off.
3. Meanwhile, splash a bit of olive oil in the bottom of a pot and saute the shallots 5 minutes over medium low heat till translucent.  Add the wild rice and  broth, stir, bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer, cover and and cook 20 minutes.
4. While the rice is cooking, rinse the lentils, and squeeze the garlic cloves out of the head (they should be soft and easy to squeeze out).  Mash them a bit with a fork to make a garlic paste. Set aside.  Add the lentils to the pot with the rice and shallots and simmer the mixture, covered, for another 25-30 minutes, till the rice and lentils are tender but not mushy.  Keep an eye on the mixture and a bit of water if necessary.
5. The rice and lentil mixture should have absorbed all of the broth and be moist.  Add the garlic paste to the mixture and stir well to combine.  Add some salt and pepper to taste.  While the mixture is still warm, stir in the dates.
6. Stuff the mixture into the squash and serve immediately.  You can also make both the squash and the rice and lentil mixture ahead of time, then stuff and gently reheat in the oven before serving.

Enjoy!