blue hubbard quinoa & brown rice casserole

As usual, this dish was inspired by one of the items in our CSA box this week: blue hubbard squash (cucurbita maxima).  We didn't get an entire squash (thank goodness!); I think we got ~3-5lb (6-11kg) which is probably only 5%-10% of the total squash!!  Deborah, our CSA farmer, suggested several ways of preparing it; basically, you can substitute any pumpkin or squash recipe with the hubbard.  I'm not a casserole person by nature, but for some reason, I had a desire (not quite a craving) to have casserole.  Besides, it sounded like something that our little 1yo can eat as well =)

I took inspiration from the both Local Nourishment & Food Buzz. Here is my version:

Ingredients
~3-5lb squash (any winter squash or pumpkin would work)
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup brown rice
5 celery sticks (finely chopped)
6oz mozarrela cheese (grated)
sprinkles of dried basil
sprinkles of crushed dried rosemary
salt & pepper
~2oz cold butter
~1/2 - 3/4 cups course wheat flour (I thought that would provide better texture than white flour)

Steps
1.  Partially bake squash, whole, at 350F for ~35mins (This was so that I can cut into the darn thing!)
2.  While waiting for step (1), soak rice & quinoa in water for at least 15mins (For the quinoa, that's the recommendation I got from the internet.. I've never cooked quinoa before(!). For the rice, I know for a fact that pre-soaking gives a much fluffier texture; the secret to good congee).  Rinse. Bring ~2.5cups of water to boil.  Add rice & quinoa; stirring often to prevent sticking. Once the content reboils, turn down heat and simmer until only ~1tbp water remains. Shut off heat and leave lid on. This will allow the grains to absorb the rest of the liquid without burning. [Of course, if you prefer your rice to be more chewy, use less water and open lid straight after cooking.]
3.  Once squash is ready (out of the oven & cooled enough to handle), cut into small cubes (~0.5" or 1cm).  I did this my slicing around the skin as it was still pretty tough to cut through and I didn't want to destroy my knife. Place cubes in casserole dish.
4.  Add cooked rice & quinoa and finely diced celery to casserole dish. Sprinkle dish with dried herbs & season with S&P.  Toss well.
5.  Cover top with grated mozzarella. [You could also mix the cheese in with the rest of the stuff.] 
6.  Work the butter into the flour and crumb on top of the cheese.
7.  Bake at ~400F for ~30mins for until crumb is golden.  [You may have to play around with the temp and time.  I did as the suggested temp of 350F and suggested time of 15mins did not work for me.]

Here is a photo of the final product:

The verdict?
My opinion: I thought it was good.  The quinoa was really flavorful. The squash was sweet. The celery was soft.. too soft?  Some parts of the crumble dried up a bit.. I wonder if I should have added more butter or a dash of milk?
His opinion:  It's  simple.  Healthy.  I like it.  [I take that to mean he likes it but is not excited by it; not like a bacon club sandwich ;-) ]
Bubby's opinion:  He didn't spit it out (phew!)  In fact, I was happy to have it for lunch for the next few days.  I call that success =D

marina di chioggia gnocchi

Thanks to Nevermore Farm for the half Marina di Chioggia squash in our first CSA box of 2012!  As suggested, I ventured to make gnocchi... pretty much for the first time in my life.  For the recipe and directions, I followed BOLDO'S THOUGHTS ON FOOD:

I first cut up the half squash into ~palm-size pieces. Roasted them @400F in the oven  for ~1.5hr. Even after that length of time, there were still several pretty firm pieces; probably due to how much I bunched them up on my standard-sized roasteing dish (which in the world of giant squashes is pretty small).  

I made the dough with ~ half the roasted squash (i.e. 1/4 of the total squash) and ~1 cup of whole wheat flour.  For each eighth of the dough, i rolled it up into ~3/4 to 5/4 inch diameter ropes, then cut them into ~1" intervals. 

A quick internet search provided several good YouTube videos of how to roll gnocchi  with a fork.  I eventually got the hang of it after about ~50... 

The total dough made 300-350 gnocchi. I was fairly liberal with the flour to keep them from sticking. 

With the first meal, we had them with a red sauce which I made simply with two cans of fire-roasted tomatoes and 1/2 bag of frozen veggies; I know, not very inventive...   But I made up for it with the second meal where I topped it with saute Hedgehog Mushrooms w/ heirloom carrots. We've been having Hedgehog mushrooms w/ carrots since the mushrooms came into season three weeks ago.  We're hoping to see these little delights again at the Farmer's Market next Saturday (fingers crossed!).