Squash and a Pepper

Guess what? My pepper turned red! Red! RED!

After six years, my thai dragon pepper plant has finally produced a ripe pepper.

See, four years abo it started making a fruit, but then the baby pepper was eaten by a bird. What kind of bird eats Thai dragon peppers? Did it breath fire? (Scoville: 75,000-100,000.)

Anyway, this year my plant got flowers again, so I brought it inside to protect them. And it has produced 4 peppers. After several weeks, one of them has finally turned red!

And I have no idea what to do with it...

Do I dry it? Use it fresh? How could I let its homegrown flavor stand out? Is it even ripe yet?

The packet said 70-80 days maturity, so probably not. It probably needs another month :(

On another note, on Vegetarian Thursday I made Nut-Stuffed Acorn Squash. (The recipe called for delicata squash, but I couldn't find any.) It was perfect as a hearty, vegetarian, winter dish. The stuffing, made with almonds, walnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, onions, and sage was rich and flavorful, but I should have diced the onions smaller to let them blend with the nuts better.

This recipe is open to infinite various, and I'm sure it would also be delicious with some diced celery added to the onions at the beginning, or some more spices

Nut-Stuffed Squash

(http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1842377)

Total Time: 1 hour(s)
Yield: Serves 4 (One half squash was largely enough for one person, and I only used 1/4 of each nut)

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter (used olive oil, and less of it)
• 2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup chopped pistachios
• 1/3 cup chopped almonds
• 1/3 cup chopped pine nuts
• [a pinch of chili flakes]
• 1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• About 1/2 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese (Fresh parmesan is essential)
• 2 delicata squash (or acorn) (about 2 lbs. total), halved lengthwise and seeded

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in sage and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in nuts. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, eggs, and 1/2 cup parmesan. Stir in nut mixture. Divide stuffing among squash halves, sprinkle with more parmesan, and bake until tender when pierced with a fork and tops are browning, about 45 minutes.

Pass around any left-over parmesan at the table.