Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Sweet Saffron Rice in Acorn Squash Bowl



I didn't start out with plans to make this. I had my eye on a zucchini masterpiece instead. You see, around 4 pm Pacific, Daddycrat issued a grave challenge. He pulled a bag of zucchini out of the fridge and said callously, "Bleech. Zucchini. Gross". "I'll show you, my pretty", I crowed to myself, then set about to make a zucchini au gratin with an unopened brie wheel we had left over from the holidays. Vegetables? Brie? In a white wine sauce?

WHat could go wrong? Um........ liquid. Lots of it. Like the ancient Aztec City of Tenochtitlan, this beautiful bed of baked brie and zucchini rests like a lily-pad on a sea of watery white wine sauce.



So, desperate to recover my mojo and cook something edible, I turned to two innocent looking acorn squash, took a peak in my freezer and came up with this pretty tasty end product:

Sweet Saffron Rice in Acorn Squash Bowl

You'll need:

2 Organic Acorn Squash $5.98 - @$2.99 each
2 Cups uncooked rice $2
4 cups water
A healthy pinch each of Cinnamon, Ground Cloves and Cardamon
1/2 cup sugar *optional
1/2 tablespoon salt
Pinch Saffron $1 - @$11/gram
2 cups Frozen Soy Bean and Corn Mix $1.99 (@3.99 per bag)
1/2 cup organic bulk raisins $.50 @ $1.99/pound
Honey or brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter or drizzles of olive oil

Total: $11.47 (not including staples you should have on hand)

Squash:
Preheat oven to 350. Split and seed the acorn squash. Place flesh side down into a baking dish with 1 inch of water, this helps steam the squash and keep it from drying out. Bake for 40 minutes, remove and pat dry.

Rice:
Bring two cups rice and four cups water to a boil. Add 1/2 cup sugar, salt, saffron, Cinnamon, Ground Cloves and Cardamon. Reduce heat to simmer and cover for ten minutes. After ten minutes, add frozen vegetables and raisins, recover and heat for another five minutes or until vegetables are desired tenderness. Remove from heat and mix rice and vegetables together.

Spoon Rice mixture into squash bowls. Drizzle honey over both the rice and squash. I topped them with a thin pat of butter, but you may use olive oil if you wish.



I popped the squash into the oven until the butter melted and the squash got that lovely roasted sheen. I served them by themselves with a little salt.

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