VeganMoFo: Pizza and Pomegranate Bejeweled Quinoa Stuffing with Walnuts

Last night I decided to get to work on another family recipe, Taco Pizza, but realized I didn't have the right sauce on hand. What I did have was some pasta sauce, Follow Your Heart mozzarella, and black olives. I whipped up a batch of pizza dough, deciding I really wanted to try a new recipe. Unfortunately, I didn't realize to get a great dough-y crust, you need to let the dough chill in the fridge for 24 hours (among many other steps). I tried to speed up the process by adding double the active yeast called for. I also didn't have bread flour on hand, so I added 1/4 cup gluten to 3/4 cup all purpose flour. I let it rest for about three hours. I love the way the dough felt. I had never used a high-gluten flour for pizza dough before. It makes all the difference!

The verdict? It wasn't perfect, but it was good! I think I could have let it bake for a tad longer (mine was in at 500* for 15 minutes) to achieve a bit of charring, which I love. The FYH was nice and bubbly...ahh what a beautiful sight!



The other dish I prepared for dinner was totally a recipe I threw together to use up ingredients I had on hand. I know. It's a strange combination with pizza, but the flavors in this stuffing are so nice together. You get hit with fresh parsley, then a the tangy-sweet of pomegranate jewels, the earthy flavor of the walnuts and quinoa, the sweet of the apple... So yummy!

This is basically what I did...


Pomegranate Bejeweled Quinoa Stuffing with Walnuts (and lots o' other stuff!)

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
1/4 white onion, minced
3 carrots, peeled and cubed
2 cups vegetable stock
2 apples, cubed
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
fresh parsley to taste, roughly chopped
1/3 cup quinoa, rinsed
pomegranate jewels from one pomegranate*
salt and black pepper to taste
a dash or two of ground thyme
a few tablespoons of light olive oil

Directions:
1. Slice the butternut squash in half, lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon and discard. Cut the top of each half so that you're left with a "bowl." Keep the tops. Place the two "bowls" in a covered baking dish in a 400* oven and bake until soft (about 20-30 minutes, maybe?)

2. While the squash is baking, prepare the stuffing. Cut the rind off the two squash tops. Cube the squash tops.

3. Dry sautee the onion in a pan on medium heat. Add the cubed squash and carrots. Sautee for five minutes, stirring often. Add vegetable stock, and cook covered on medium-low heat for about ten minutes. Stir! Add apples, walnuts, parsley, and quinoa. Continue to cook covered for another 5-10 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa is soft. Add pomegranate jewels, salt and pepper, thyme, and olive oil.

4. Fill squash bowls with stuffing. (There will be a lot left over.)


*This is Pom Wonderful's suggestion for obtaining the pomegranate jewels. "Score fresh pomegranates and place in a bowl of water. Break open the pomegranates under water to free the arils (seed sacs). The arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the membrane will float to the top. Sieve and put the arils in a separate bowl."