Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Acorn Squash Lasagna: Everything is better inside of something else

Someone had told me about a restaurant of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives that stuffs lasagna into an acorn squash. I hadn't seen the episode for myself and I couldn't find any other information on it, but I thought the idea was amazing. Today, I improvised an acorn squash lasagna and it was wonderfully successful. Basically, it's an acorn squash divided in half, stuffed with thin slices of zucchini and eggplant, layered with tomato sauce and ground beef, and topped with goat cheese. It looks beautiful and tastes amazing. It would make a terrific side dish to roasted chicken or turkey breast or pretty much anything. It's also stupidly simple to make.

Ingredients:
1 medium acorn squash
Jar of tomato sauce
1/4 - 1/2 pound of ground beef
1/2 small eggplant
1/2 small zucchini
Goat cheese

Serving size: 2 - one squash half per person

Cut the acorn squash in half. Discard seeds. On the side that has the "pointy" end, cut off the end so that the squash can stand up.












Put the squash in a roasting pan, flesh side down, with a centimeter of water. Roast the squash for 20-25 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees (F).


While the squash is roasting, saute your ground beef until brown and thinly slice the veggies. The veggies will act as your lasagna sheets.







At this point, the squash may still be a little firm. That is okay. The squash will be in the oven again later, so it will soften more.

You may feel like you want to stuff the squash more than it will let you. Feel free to remove some of the flesh from the cavity.

Drop a dollop of tomato sauce at the bottom of the squash cavity. Layer with veggie slices and ground beef. I recommend having a close-able jar of tomato sauce, because you won't use very much sauce - about 1/4 cup per acorn squash half. Return squash to the oven on a dry roasting pan (just dump the water from earlier). Bake the squash for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees (F).

Now for the most important part. Remove the squashes from the oven and top with goat cheese. All the goat cheese you want. Because it's GOAT CHEESE!

You now have a very successful dish before you. Enjoy it.

Blog Revitalization

Revitalization commence in 3...2...1....BLAST OFF!

It's been a long while since I updated. That's because many things have happened. My husband and I successfully relocated from Central Florida to Oakland, California for graduate school. The cross-country trip took five days, including a day long pit-stop in Memphis, TN.

I love the Bay Area. I was meant to live here. There are tons of farmer's markets, locally grown food is sold at grocery stores, and awesome musicians are everywhere all the time. Within the first week of school, I saw Terry Riley at the Berkeley Art Gallery. I sat within 30 feet of the man who wrote In C.

Because of everything that's happened, my blog has been neglected. That is going to change now.

Since moving here, I've found it easier to follow a primal lifestyle, mostly because I no longer live in the same house as my parents. Also, there seems to be more of an awareness of gluten-intolerance here than in Florida, so it's easier to order something at a restaurant without having to substitute a bunch of things just to make sure it's paleo.

In a nutshell, it's good to blogging again. Now, here's a new recipe.