Ingredients
1 acorn squash
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Dash of salt
1 cup wild rice
2 cups water or broth
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup raisins or dried cranberries (optional)
¼ cup sliced raw almonds
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 400F.
Using a strong chef’s knife, and perhaps a rubber mallet to help [grin], cut the acorn squash in half, lengthwise, from stem to end. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff in the center of each half. Score the insides of each half several times with a sharp knife. Place each half in a baking pan, cut side up. Add about a 1/4 inch of water to the bottom of the baking pan so that the skins don’t burn and the squash doesn’t get dried out.
Coat the inside of each half with a tablespoon of butter. Add a dash of salt if you are using unsalted butter. Add a tablespoon of brown sugar to the cavity of each half.
Bake in the oven for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until the squash is very soft and the tops are browned. Do not undercook. When finished, remove from oven and let cool a little. Reserve some of the buttery sugar sauce that has not already been absorbed by the squash to mix in with the rice.
Make rice according to standard rice making directions (I use a rice cooker and use a 1:2 rice:water ratio, and add a tablespoon of butter, but some people use the stovetop or oven methods). Mix a handful of raisins and/or cranberries and almonds (optional) to the rice and add reserve butter from the squash. Fill rice into the squash halves.