Stuffed Squash, Warming or Cooling

The total time for preparing this dish is 1 hour and 40 minutes, with the actual cooking time being an hour and 15 minutes. This is a meal in a bowl AND you can eat the bowl. The proportions are for 2 of each (warming and cooling) constitutions but you could vary the amounts to make it 3 to 1 or all the same constitution.

Adapted from a recipe by Alton Brown

Serves 4

For the neutral part:

4 small acorn squash, about 1 pound each
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 teaspoons olive oil (or other oil if avoiding liver foods)
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped carrot
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, completely thawed, drained and chopped
1/2 cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped

Cooling half:

4 ounces ground pork
2 Tablespoon chopped celery
2 Tablespoons white wine
1/2 teaspoon oregano
generous pinch kosher salt

Warming half:

4 ounces ground lamb
1 teaspoon olive oil (or other oil)
2 Tablespoons chopped onion
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
freshly ground black pepper.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Prepare rice. While rice is cooking, cut 1-inch off the top of each acorn squash and scoop out the seeds. If necessary in order for the squash to sit upright, cut off a small portion of the bottom. Put 1 of the 4 pieces of butter in the cavity of each squash. Set squash on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large saute pan over medium heat, add the oil and saute the celery and carrot until they begin to soften, approximately 7 to 10 minutes. Add the rice, spinach and almonds and mix thoroughly. Divide the rice mixture in half and put into two separate bowls.

You can wipe out the first pan and use it for one of the meats and get another small saute pan for the other.

For the warming half:
Saute the onion in the oil for about 5 minutes. Add the lamb and brown it well. De-glaze the pan with the lemon juice. Add the cinnamon, cumin and pepper. Add to one of the bowls of rice and mix thoroughly.

For the cooling half:
Saute the celery in the oil for about 5 minutes. Add the pork and brown it well. De-glaze the pan with the wine. Add the oregano and salt. Add to the other bowl of rice and mix thoroughly.

Divide each of the warming and cooling stuffings into the acorn squash. Top each squash with it’s lid and bake for an hour or until the squash is tender. Serve immediately. You’ll be able to tell which squash is which by the aroma.