Sunday Night Dinner

I had the great pleasure of cooking for my friend Beth Ann on Sunday night. It wasn't planned so I had to run to the store for some protein (I have a tendency to not cook a lot of protein for myself), but was delighted that I could pull something together for the rest of the meal from my Saturday farmers market purchases.

Even though it was thrown together it ended up being a pretty great dinner. We had chicken breasts stuffed with swiss chard and mozarella, rice and two types of fall squash. I got the idea for the chicken recipe from a Greek stuffed chicken breast that I make sometimes. I didn't have spinach or feta so I substituted with swiss chard and mozzarella.

For the squash, I bought a Kambocha squash and a Delicato squash at the market mostly because I had never tried either. I was told by the vendors to cook them like you would a butternut or acorn squash. They were delicious!

They have very different flavors. The vendor told me the Kambocha squash is a Japanese pumpkin. It's small and round and the flesh tastes a lot like butternut squash. The Delicato on the other hand tastes more like a spaghetti or acorn squash. It is long like a summer squash but has that slightly nutty flavor that you get from fall/winter squash. I'll definitely be buying more and encourage to hunt some down as well.

Sunday Dinner With Beth Ann

Chicken Stuffed with Swiss Chard and Mozzarella
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bundle of swiss chard
2 cloves garlic, chopped
a little olive oil
about 2/3 cup of grated mozzarella
1 egg, slightly beaten

Preheat the broiler.

Butterfly the chicken breast so you can stuff them and set them to the side.

In a saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Saute the garlic for a minute or so and then add the swiss chard. Saute until wilted and then remove from heat to cool.

In a bowl, combine the chard, mozzarella and egg. Stuff each chicken breast with the mixture.

Place the chicken breasts under the broiler for 10 minutes on each side.

Roasted Fall Squash
2 fall/winter squash - Kambocha, Delicato, Acorn or Butternut
butter
salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the squash in half and clean out the seeds in the middle. Butter the bottom of a baking dish. Place a small pat of butter in each squash half. Add some salt and pepper.

Place the squash halves upside down (cut side down) in the dish and roast for 30-40 minutes (depends on the size of the squash.) You can test for doneness by turning the squash over and testing the tenderness.

If you are using Kambocha or Butternut squash, consider grating a little nutmeg over the top for some extra flavor.