Hello everyone, Jess here.
I am signed up for all of the remaining poultry harvests of 2015. This still couldn’t stop me from taking advantage of the impromptu sale of fresh freezer chickens at Springdell this week. After all, Farmer Jamie needed help cleaning out the freezers to make room for upcoming items, so one has to do their part to help, right? If you are not signed up for the poultry harvest, there is still time- last I checked there were just a few turkeys left for Thanksgiving week, and as for chickens, December 5th is the next harvest!
As the chicken I purchased was on the larger side (8 pounds), I started thawing it in my fridge on Wednesday for today’s dinner. I stuck to my traditional roast chicken recipe for this one.
Having already shared my roast chicken here, I thought I’d focus on something else that lots of us have at the moment (and if you are not among us, do hit the farm stand and join us in abundance). I’m talking about the almighty acorn squash.
Many folks new to CSAs are often overwhelmed by the sheer numbers in which acorn squash arrive in our late Summer CSA share boxes. If you are among the overwhelmed, fear not! When stored properly, they can keep throughout the entire winter season, making your Summer CSA the gift that keeps on giving!
I often halve, roast and stuff these beauties, but today I decided to mix it up and see what happens. I still started with halving the squashes, scooping the seeds out with a grapefruit spoon, then scoring them to help with the cooking process. A little drizzle of olive oil or a few dots of butter are welcome options at this point. After roasting at 400 degrees until things were tender (about 30-ish minutes), I scraped out and mashed up the middles a bit. I wound up with about 3 cups.
Instead of all-purpose flour, I mashed the squash with about 1/2 cup of garbanzo bean flour to keep it friendly for my gluten-intolerant buddies. If your squash is stringy, you can pulse it with a food processor with the flour, but not too much or the consistency will be too mushy to work with. I added a clove of minced garlic, and a little drizzle of maple syrup for some optional flavor. Separately, I mixed together 1 cup gluten-free panko, 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, 1/2 tsp dried crumbled sage, and 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper.
I formed the squash mixture into little bowls then put a little mozzarella cheese in the pocket.
I then closed the pockets with a little more squash and rolled the squash into balls.
Next I rolled them the squash balls in the bread crumb mixture and then placed them on a sprayed cookie sheet (I used coconut oil).
375 degrees for about 25 minutes did the trick.
The panko still didn’t get too golden, but in retrospect a light spray/drizzle of oil and a trip under the broiler for a couple of minutes would help with aesthetics.
There’s dinner Springdell style!
I served the delights on a bed of spinach with a drizzle of honey mustard sauce. The pan gravy was also gluten-free, made of pan drippings, chicken stock and corn starch. A quick and fun Sunday dinner!
These were good! As they are mostly healthy, perhaps a bit more cheese in the middle would make them a bit more decadent. Maybe next time.
The kids were a little unruly and tired tonight, so we wrapped Sunday Dinner quickly this week so that everyone could get to bed early. I think that’s where I’m headed too. Have a good night, and thanks for reading!