Pearled Farro with Kale and Porcini Mushroom in Kabocha Squash with Baked Potato, Heirloom Tomato, and Easter Egg Radish (No Added Fat)

I shopped at Weaver Street Market after a class that I taught this afternoon and found some pearled farro as well as a lovely kabocha squash. (I subsequently found out that this nutritious grain is even more healthful if semi-pearled, and I'll look for this.) Yesterday, we had picked up some pretty "Easter Egg" radishes.

I came up with the idea of making a stuffed squash with farro as the base. The following describes my preparation, starting with the ingredients that I used.

• Approximately an eighth of a cup of dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 cup pearled farro
• 1 vegan bouillon cube without any added salt
• 1/4 package of tempeh, cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1/4 sweet onion, cut into 1/4" cubes
• 3 leaves kale, rib removed and leaves roughly hand-torn to approx. 1" squares
• Salt (to taste; I used about 1/8 teaspoon), coarse-ground black pepper (perhaps 1/8 teaspoon), 1/4 teaspoon tarragon
• 1 kubocha squash, halved and seeded
• 3 baking potatoes

1. I preheated the oven to 350 degF and started a cup or so of water boiling
2. Once the water was boiling, I poared over the dried mushroom in a bowl and let the mushroom reconstitute (over about 20m)
3. Once the oven was ready, I put in the potato and, face up, squash, and baked for about 40m
4. I put 3 cups water, farro, and bouillon cube in a stock pan, brought it to a boil, then reduced the heat and simmered, covered, on low heat for about 20m
5. About 12m into the simmer, I added the tempeh and onion
6. About 15m into the simmer, I added the kale
7. When the 20 minutes were up and the farro was tasty and still chewy, I mixed in the salt, black pepper, and tarragon; if I weren't cooking to include my preschooler, I would have also added hot sauce
8. I served the farro mixture in the squash and served heirloom tomato, radish, and baked potato to the side

Dinner was good! I'd like to make more dishes with this chewy and tasty grain, and see if I can get less processed farro.