Acorn Squash with Wheatberry and Cremini Mushroom Stuffing

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Ha! Remember me? This fall was an eventful one. A new niece, a new job, travel, what have you. Not that I'm making excuses, but... I'm totally making excuses.

So here we are. 2008 is drawing to a close, and I'm sitting in my breakfast room here in Brooklyn, watching the snow blowing around outside and listening to sad bastard songs about winter with a cup of lukewarm coffee in hand. I'm on an unprecedented two week vacation, which is thankfully giving me some time to experiment in the kitchen again, and so I've come out of hiding to share a hearty winter recipe I whipped up last night.

Acorn squash is one of my favorite winter vegetables, and this recipe was inspired by one I made from the Joy of Cooking for a winter dinner party last year, for quinoa-stuffed acorn squash. I've already documented my love for cooking with grains, but I thought the quinoa was too delicate to keep up with a veggie like acorn squash, so for this recipe I used wheatberries instead. I wanted to add a bit more heft to the stuffing, too, and the gigantic bin of cremini mushrooms at Fairway served as a delicious inspiration.

Acorn Squash with Wheatberry and Cremini Mushroom Stuffing
Serves 4

2 acorn squash, halved and with seeds removed
1 cup wheatberries
1 cup chicken stock
3 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, diced
1 1/2 cups chopped cremini mushrooms
1/4 cup unblanched almonds, chopped and toasted
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour 1/4-inch of water into a large casserole dish. Place the acorn squash halves flesh side up in the dish and cover with aluminum foil. Bake until flesh is fork-tender, roughly 40 minutes.

While squash is baking, bring chicken stock to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in wheatberries, reduce heat, and simmer until half the liquid is absorbed. Remove saucepan from heat and let the wheatberries sit, covered, until the rest of the stock is absorbed, roughly 20 minutes.

Over medium heat, warm olive oil in a skillet. Add shallots and sauté until transparent, about 2 minutes. Add chopped cremini mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms are just tender. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Add cooked wheatberries, almonds, thyme, about half the Romano cheese, and salt and pepper. Stir well.

Remove squash from the oven and uncover. Fill the cavities of the squash with stuffing (be careful, they're hot!), sprinkle with remaining Romano cheese, and return to oven until the stuffing is heated through and the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.

Note: To toast the almonds, warm a dry skillet over medium heat. Add almonds and stir or toss continually for even browning. This process goes quickly, so be careful not to let the almonds sit or they'll burn easily. You'll begin to smell a rich, nutty aroma as they toast, and you can tell from sight when they're done - remove them from the pan when they're golden brown.

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