Chickpea-Stuffed Delicata Squash
Well, we survived our opening night at Jack! It was tons of fun, and I hope that everyone outside the kitchen enjoyed it as much as we did. We’re gearing up for our next dinner on May 3rd, and oh, oh, did all the locals see? Apparently ramps finally hit the Union Square greenmarket as of this morning! Spring has sprung. The cherry tree in front of our apartment is in bloom.
That said, here is a winter squash dish that makes even devoted carnivores like me happy and satisfied.
Spring recipes coming soon, I promise. Just as soon as Dave brings home those ramps tonight!
Archives
2007: Turkish Red Lentil Soup with Urfa-Biber Mint Sizzle
2006: Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms
Chickpea-Stuffed Delicata Squash
for the chickpeas
1 C (200 g) dried chickpeas
4 C water (or, better yet, mushroom broth)
1/2 C dried cranberries
1/2 C tawny port
2 large (4″ diameter) delicata squash
Salt, sugar, olive oil, and macademia nuts to taste
Preheat your oven to 475 F.
Mix the dried cranberries and port together in a bowl. Microwave 30 seconds, then set aside for 30 minutes.
Pressure cook the chickpeas in the water or stock and a bit of salt on high for 30 minutes. Wait 10 minutes, then release the pressure. Salt some more if needed. Alternatively, soak them overnight and then simmer then until done, or use canned chickpeas and just drain and salt them.
Slice the squash into 1/2″ thick rounds. Remove and discard the seeds. Lightly slather the squash rings with olive oil and salt. Bake them for 15 minutes, or until tender.
Add a pinch of salt to the port/cranberries, then transfer them to a small pot and simmer until the port reduces to a syrup.
Drain the chickpeas, then fry in safflower oil on medium-high heat for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden. Drain on paper towels.
While the chickpeas are frying, microplane the macademias into fine curls and toss with a bit of salt and sugar.
When the chickpeas are ready, toss them with the cranberries and port syrup.
Place a squash ring in the center of each plate. Fill each squash ring with the fried chickpea mixture. Surround with the prepared macademia curls.
Microplaned macademias ! yay!
Now that looks (and sounds) delicious! And congratulations on a successful opening of Jack!
Beautiful presentation of one of my favorite of the winter squashes. Usually I slice delicata and cook it on the grill, but I love this stuffing method.
Congratulations, Danielle! That’s aweseome!
Congratulations on your success, Danielle!! :)
Oh wow… gorgeous colors! Love it!
This looks good-and it’s vegetarian. Congratulations on the success of your restaurant! I love how you infuse different flavors (and experiment) with your food.
Congratulations on your first night of Jack! That squash looks and sounds utterly delightful :)
Jack was amazing.
The food was soo good and beautiful. We were celebrating our third anniversary and had a lot of fun being there. We thought it was much better compared to a normal fancy restaurant where the dishes often seem to overload and depend on butter and salt. At Jack, your food was flavorful, full, stimulating, and wonderfully creative while still comfortable and real. Often, it seems a fancy restaurant thinks they’re food is so great even if it’s just asparagus tinted heavy cream or whatever. I don’t know how else to put it, except that at Jack all the tastes were really about food. Food, what you eat to stay alive and happy and healthy. Of course, this was food with all these additional layers of unusual exquisiteness. We left feeling really satisfied and pampered. Without the gross, abused body feeling.
Thanks so much.
Congratulations on your first night! This dish does look appetizing for another carnivore like myself! Don’t start with the ramps….I’ll never see them here!
Thank you so much, everyone!
Tartelette – Really? If I find a good way to pickle some, I’ll send you pickled ramps. I keep meaning to experiment with ramp kimchi, maybe that will work.
leeann – Thank you so much for the wonderful review! I really appreciate it. I’m so glad you enjoyed and that we were able to help you celebrate your anniversary together.
Ramp kimchi? OMG, does that sound good! Probably illegal as too creative and furrin in the Appalachians where they grow. How lucky to find squashh this time of year that hasn’t turned wood and tasteless.
Congratulations on your first meal at Jack! It’s great to hear that it went well.
Congrats on your opening! I am excited to go someday in the next year:) Hopefully our schedules will be in sync.
Any chance that a lonely travelling Estonian foodblogger could have a meal at Jack’s on June 7th?? Just wondering :)
Indeed, June 7 is one of our dates. We haven’t posted a menu yet, but we’ll email the list as soon as we do.
I am so happy for you and for your guests- of course I expect it went smashingly well and everyone was drooling on their plates between courses. Wish I could have been there.
Pickled Ramps sound fab too…
Congratulations!
I’m having a love affair with chickpeas right now, and this looks like another delicious recipe to add to my arsenal!