Kabocha Squash stuffed with Black Beans and Shallot and topped with Pomegranate, Multi-grain Bread with Tomato, Leftover Giant Peruvian Lima Bean - Sweet Potato Vegetable Soup (No Added Fat)

When my daughter and I came home from an activity that she was involved with, she and my wife were hungry, so I wanted to put a quick meal together. I had soup leftover from Tuesday and the bean filling for the lasagne from Wednesday.

I love kabocha squash, and purchased one recently. I have enjoyed using my friend Lani Muelrath's tip for pressure cooking acorn squash, intact, in the pressure cooker for 8 minutes, and thought I'd do the same for the kabocha squash, as this has worked well for butternut squash. Here is what I did:

Ingredients

• 1 rinsed but uncut kabocha squash
• 1 cup water
• Cooked black beans optionally with vegetables like corn and onion or shallot (I had leftover from the day before yesterday)
• 1 t spicy seasoning of choice (I used a jerk seasoning, but red chili powder or a hot sauce could have worked)
• (optional) 1/4 t cinnamon
• (optional) 2T pomegranate kernels

Process

1. I put the water and steamer trivet into my Instant Pot pressure cooker.
2. I rinsed and put, intact and atop the trivet in the pressure cooker, the squash, and pressure steamed for 8 minutes.
3. I gave the pot 6-10 minutes to cool down then slowly released remaining pressure and opened it.
4. I cut the squash easily in half and removed the seeds. The squash wasn't yet done, however.
5. I put the cut squash back on the trivet in the Instant Pot, and added an uncovered bowl of beans and shallot leftover from the lasagne from Wednesday to reheat.
6. I ran another pressure steam cycle, this time for 3 minutes.
7. I put the squash halves in each of two plates (my daughter, alas, doesn't like squash, so she got everything but the squash), and filled with the beans.
8. I sprinkled the jerk seasoning on top and, along the edges of the squash, the cinnamon, and tossed the pomegranate kernels on top.

I also heated up Tuesday's soup, adding 2 or 3 tablespoons of wine. Some lightly toasted mixed grain bread with tomato and olive completed the meal.

Results

The squash was good but still undercooked. I'm not sure if the pomegranate and bean combination was as good as just having one or the other, but it was still a nice main course. I liked the flavor that the wine added to the soup.

Ideas for the future

I love kabocha squash and will try again, perhaps with a cook time of 14-16 minutes. My brother's family in California sent us fresh pomegranates from their garden, so I'll have to continue integrating pomegranates into my cooking for the next week or so, unless we eat all the kernels fresh.