chorizo squash casserole

This casserole is a bit mushy, so would be better as a side dish or on top of rice. I'm pretty sure we ate it on its own, which enhanced the soft texture, but seth liked it!

For this dish I used the turban squash I had, which was yummy. To roast it I cut off the stem, sliced it in half in the up-and-down direction and baked it drizzled with a bit of oil in the oven at 400F for almost an hour. Then I cut off the skin and mashed it in a bowl. This is the basic task for softening up some squash in the oven (rather than boiling it) and it saves labourous time in cutting off the skin when it's hard.

The Portuguese chorizo we got from a local, in our neighbourhood, butcher: Pete's Mountain Meats. He makes all of his sausages in house and sources natural and local ingredients as often as possible. It's also really spicy. YUM.

chorizo squash casserole
(adapted from Arabian Squash Casserole from the original Moosewood cookbook, pg. 140)

Ingredients:

1 turban squash, roasted as above and mashed or pureed
1/2 lb spicy chorizo, sliced into 1/2 cm thick rounds
1 tbsp olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c chopped fresh parsley
1/4 c chopped pecans
2 medium peppers, one red/one green, diced
1 c. yoghurt
1 tbsp paprika (spicy or not)
handful of raisins

How to:

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a pan over medium heat, add olive oil, peppers, garlic, and chorizo and stir constantly to avoid sticking/burning. If it's doing either of those things, add a little bit of water and turn it down. Cook this until the garlic is browned and the chorizo gets a fat crust.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the squash, parsley, yoghurt, pecans, paprika, and salt and pepper to taste.  Add the chorizo/fried mixture to this and stir to just combined. Pour into an ungreased casserole dish and top with a handful of rasins.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, or until bubbly.

(Would also be good on toast).