Sweet apple, onion, currants and spicy garam masala make this lentil stuffed acorn squash a flavorful weeknight dish, perfect for Meatless Monday (or any other night, too).
A twitter follower asked me for the recipe when I tweeted out a picture of the dish, and I asked her if she was a by-the-seat-of-the-pants cook, or a recipe follower.
She assured me she was the former, so I jotted down from memory how I made it, and now I’m sharing it with you.
The recipe is available below, but just know that it was written for the seat-of-the-pants cook, not the must-follow-to-the-letter recipe cook.
That means I want you to taste and think about it as you go, and not stress about precise measurements.
It’s a fun recipe, and the whole thing can be done in less than 45 minutes. While the squash bakes, you cook the lentils in one pan and the onion-apple-currant-garam masala in another pan.
You can also toast the walnuts while all this is going on. Yes, you can multi-task. I know you can.
Unless you’re my husband, in which case, you might want to go out to eat because you’ll never make a dish that calls for more than one pan, let alone three. Good news for me, my husband cleans up if I cook.
So, technically, I could have used six pans, but I went easy on him, and only used three.
If you read all the way through the directions first, you’ll have no trouble getting this on the table in 45 minutes.
It’s warm, earthy, spicy and has wonderful texture contrasts between the tender squash and the crunchy walnuts. And I think it’s good for you, too, but don’t hold that against me.
What do you think?
Going to a holiday party and looking for a dip to take? If you have a leftover can of pumpkin puree from Thanksgiving, here’s a simple recipe worth opening the can for.
