Serves 4 Total Time: 45min – 1 hr
INGREDIENTS
Two acorn squash
3 Tbsp olive oil
One large onion, diced
One medium sized apple, diced
Two cloves garlic, minced
2 cups fresh kale, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tsp Himalayan sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 lb ground pork
1 Tbsp Himalayan sea salt
1 Tbsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning
3 Tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup shredded or cubed medium white cheddar cheese (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400degF.
Cut acorn squash in half and scoop out strings and seeds. Place halved squash cut side down on a baking sheet, and add 1/2 inch of water to the baking pan. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the squash is tender.
While squash is baking, caramelize onions over medium-low heat by adding 3 Tbsp olive oil and onion to a frying pan. Stir every 5 minutes to prevent burning. After 15-20 minutes, or when the onions start to brown, add apples. Cook another 5 minutes. Add kale, garlic, rosemary, thyme, 1 tsp Himalayan sea salt & 1/2 tsp black pepper and cook another 5 minutes.
In a separate pan, cook ground pork in a pan over medium heat. Once pork is fully cooked, add 1 Tbsp Himalayan sea salt, 1 Tbsp garlic powder & 2 Tbsp Italian seasoning.
Mix the onion mixture with seasoned ground pork and set aside until squash is cooked. Scoop squash out of the skin into a bowl and stir in 3 Tbsp maple syrup.
To serve: Scoop squash into a bowl and top with the sausage mixture. Top with a pinch or two of cheese if desired.
With changing growing regions and seasons, some farmers are taking advantage of the upside of climate change.
“We now have 10-14 extra days of a frost-free growing season on average that we did not have 50 years ago in Michigan,” Andresen says. “That typically translates into a higher potential yield.”
Planet Detroit is an email newsletter that explains what’s happening in the environment in Detroit and Michigan. Subscribe at planetdetroit.substack.com
Once the simmering is done, you will need to filter the rose hips from the water. This is the only part of the process that does require some care. Rose hips have lots of little hairs in them, and these are an irritant to the skin (for those of you who were mischievous in childhood, you might remember stuffing some crushed rose hips down the top of some unlucky kid at school to make him the itchiest thing on earth) and to our digestive system. So, these will need to be carefully filtered out before you can drink them. This is simple to do–firstly, use a sieve and remove the large pieces of rose hip, then filter the remaining water through either some layers of clean cloth (such as muslin) or a paper coffee filter. I used the latter, and it is the better option, really. This is quite a slow process, so I’d recommend setting it up and going off to do something else while it filters. Once this is done, add the sugar. I used 500 grams. Then add it to two empty wine bottles (screw top) and top up with vodka. It is ready to drink straight away and goes really well with a chocolatey pudding. Best served chilled.
Both of these recipes are very simple to make, and the finished product is really tasty. Don’t worry too much about the weights and measurements; there is very little that can go wrong with either recipe, and the only thing you need to be careful with is filtering out the hairs from the rose hips. Both ideas can also be adapted to work with other edible berries that you have growing locally. Blackberry vodka, anyone?