Vinaigrette

I'm a sucker for vinegars and oils.  I developed a pretty intense affection for Stillwater Olive Oil Company given that I visit Stillwater frequently when the sun is shining and the weather is ice cream-friendly. But tucked into winter and lazy about driving to Stillwater or White Bear Lake, I lamented the lack of options for taste-testing potential vinegar and oil additions to my kitchen.

And then, miracle of miracles, I found Vinaigrette, wonderfully close to home at 50th and Xerxes, and chock full of deliciousness. I wandered the store for several minutes, soaking up various flavors with bread (and taking some shots of my favorites, if I'm being honest). And I settled on the porcini mushroom olive oil, sun dried tomato olive oil, and a pomegranate vinegar.  I'm pretty sure the pomegranate vinegar consumption could be graphed in parallel to a recent increase in spinach, radish, and goat cheese salads on my part. 

I wanted to save my blogging exuberance for an opportunity to post a recipe I've loved with the oils.  The sun dried tomato oil has, unsurprisingly, made appearances in many pasta and risotto dishes, as well as a pretty stellar spicy shrimp etouffee.

But one of my favorites in this cold season is a roasted acorn squash stuffed with wild rice, asiago cheese, and mushrooms.  And that porcini mushroom oil perfectly enhances that earthy, wild rice happiness. Check out Vinaigrette to inspire your own recipes and let me know what you come up with!  I'd love more recipes!

Roasted Acorn Squash Stuffed with Wild Rice, Mushrooms, and Asiago
(serves 4, with some wild rice mixture to spare)
2 acorn squash, halved, seeds removed
2 cups dry wild rice or mixture of grains (I prefer a wild rice blend with quinoa)
4 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup shaved asiago, the good stuff, and additional for sprinkling on top
1 cup chopped mushrooms, I used buttons
4 shallots, chopped
1 bay leaf
Porcini Mushroom Olive Oil
black pepper, to taste
salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 400. Set acorn squash, cut side up, on baking sheet.  You may want to slice the bottoms just slightly to make them flat so they won't roll.  But I usually don't feel the need to do this.  Drizzle with the olive oil and dust with salt and pepper. Place in oven for 40 minutes, testing for doneness after 30 minutes, you want the inside scoopable (not a word). 

While squash are in the oven, bring vegetable broth to a boil. In separate skillet, add a drizzle of olive oil and saute mushrooms and shallots until shallots are translucent, set aside. Add bay leaf and rice mixture to vegetable broth and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until done.  Drain any remaining liquid, remove bay leaf, and mix in mushrooms and shallots.

Remove squash from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.  Using a spoon, gently remove the squash innards and add to rice mixture.  Be careful not to tear squash skins.  Once all of the squash has been removed, mix thoroughly into rice mixture.  Add assiago cheese, allowing to melt a bit, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Return 2/3 cup rice mixture to each acorn "bowl".  Sprinkle with additional cheese. Set under broiler for 2-3 minutes to melt the cheese, browning it slightly (note: I did this for the pictured acorn squash but will admit to eating off the melted cheese before taking a picture...cheese problem here). Allow to cool 2-3 minutes before serving.

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