Vegetable Quinoa Bake with Kuri Squash

I bought this red Kuri Squash at Figueroa Produce last week just because I had never seen one before and I thought it was beautiful. I guess I have a weakness for a pretty squash... fully knowing that I have way more vegetables than it is reasonable to prepare and eat before I leave town for Christmas, and having absolutely no idea what to do with this odd speciman, I bought it anyway.

It sat for a over a week in the windowsill of my kitchen, taunting me. I figured it was like a pumpkin and could be used in any of the numerous pumpkin recipes I've made in the past. But that felt like cheating. This is something new and exotic and I should make a new and exotic dish with it. So it sat and sat on the pedestal of too high expectations. I was unable to engage it for fear of seeming plebeian and dull. So finally I sat down and searched the good old world wide web and found a recipe, that while not exactly exotic, at least it something I've not made before and did not require a trip to the store. It turned out to be a nice, hearty, vegetarian entree (if you use vegetable stock rather than chicken stock). I found the recipe on a website called fatfree.com (not my usual stomping ground). It was adapted from a recipe published in the December 1994 issue of Vegetarian Times. I have adapted it somewhat here.

white wine or chicken stock
 1 medium onion, chopped
 1 large bell pepper, diced (I used 1 red & 1 green and part of 1 yellow)
 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (optional) (I didn't have one)
 1 small zucchini, diced (I didn't have any zucchini, but I suspect it would have been a good addition)
 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 4)
 3 cups chicken broth
 1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed well
 2 cups peeled and diced red kuri, pumpkin, or other winter squash
     (I used the whole squash, I would guess about 4 cups)
 1 cup chopped greens of your choice
 2 TBSP fresh parsley or 1TBSP dried (I forgot!)
 1/2 tsp salt    
 1/2 tsp pepper

 Preheat oven to 400ºF.
 Saute with wine or broth the onion, peppers, zucchini, and
 garlic for about 5 minutes.  Stir in rest of ingredients and bring to
 a boil.  (I did NOT stir in the greens, instead I placed them in the
 bottom of the dish first.)  Transfer mixture to a 9x13 casserole dish
 and cover.  Bake until liquid is absorbed, about 35 to 40 minutes. 
 Remove from oven and fluff with a fork.  Let stand 5 minutes before
 serving.  Makes 6-8 servings

I think you can adapt this pretty easily to whatever veggies you have on hand. The recipe posted asked for 8-10 mushrooms, which I don't care for, but perhaps you do...I served this with a lovely Persimmon, Walnut & Pomegranate Salad. I loosely stole the recipe from my friend Louisa who made it for our Community Garden Holiday potluck. I added avocado, which is always a nice touch. I used this meal to trap my friend Jan Smelk at my house for many hours when she dropped by to deliver her homemade Holiday Kahlua, a delight of the season I look forward to every year.