Not Tofurkey

Man fuck tofu on Thanksgiving.  It's not that I'm not thankful for it, but it's not a substitute for meat!  It's a protein meritorious enough not to be disguised as something I for one wouldn't want to pollute my body with anyway (yeah I said it, although you probably don't even want to fight about it because you're too tired from your tryptophan and over-eating induced siesta).

So me and Joey made a variation on a common holiday theme: stuffed squash.

HolyshitI'msothankful for Harvest Vegetables!

1 butternut squash cut in half (be careful!)
4 oz of nice semi-soft chevre
1 honey-crisp or other apple that can stand up to medium high heat
1 red onion
1 beet
4 tbsp olive oil or butter
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
a few sprigs of thyme
fresh nutmeg
1 clove garlic
1 in. cube fresh ginger

1. The first thing to do is get the squash and beets a-roasting cuz that shit takes forever.  Preheat oven to 400 while you cube the beets.  I always leave the skin because in it, 'all the virtue of the vegetable is contained.'  Toss them with olive oil and vinegar and roast until they pass the fork test.
2. While that's going on, scrape all the seeds out of the squash, and also about an inch wide trench in the long part.  These can be roasted in a glass pan with a 1/2 inch of water surrounding the bottom.
   
   
   
3. Dice the onion, get that browning in large skillet with a couple tbsp of olive oil.
4. Add crushed ginger about 5 minutes before the onions are tender.
5. Add a splash of vinegar and the crushed garlic about 3 minutes before the onions are tender.
6. Add the leaves of thyme and cubed apple bits.
7. Add grated nutmeg about 2 minutes before everything is all tender and starting to really mingle.
8. Stuff the squash with the mix, and sprinkle chunked chevre over it.

This can easily be wrapped and popped in the oven or microwave around the time that your meat-eating family members are nearly ready to take the turkey out.

Results:  I like this better than the version I usually make with acorn squash, although I like the look of acorn squash better because it's like an individual bowl, and this you have to share and divide in weird ways.  The beets are the most beautiful fuschia against the yellow of the squash, and they taste exceptionally sweet and tasty with the apples.  The tarter the apples the better I say, and that tartness is emphasized by the vinegar.  I think next year I will use a balsamic reduction instead of apple cider vinegar.  A lot of people asked me rather pointedly just what our entree was at this past Thanksgiving, but even with the enthusiastic and elaborate descriptions I'm partial to, this dish just really needs to be tasted.