Quinoa Stuffed Kabocha Squash (or Taiwanese Pumpkin)

Want to make a vegetarian dish with an eye-catching presentation? This is the one! My past attempts at making quinoa tasted kind of bitter, leaving me indifferent to the high-in-protein grain that I keep hearing about. This time I followed instructions and rinsed the quinoa. Was that an important step? I'll be doing that from now on since it tasted good (though I'll need to remember to get the fine mesh strainer for all those itty bitty grains). I used a Taiwanese Pumpkin from my parents' garden here. It looks and behaves like a Kabocha Squash but my parents say the Taiwan Pumpkin is a different vegetable. For the winter greens, I used kale. You could also use chard, collard greens, rapini, mustard greens, or turnip greens. I increased the amount of artichoke hearts since I like those. I used non-marinated artichoke hearts but you could probably use marinated if you preferred.

The original recipe includes instructions for making an anchoïade (an anchovy dressing) but I left that out since I was making a vegetarian meal for friends. I think even the meat eaters in our group found this to be a satisfying dish. Thanks to my sister for sending another great recipe my way!

( Click to See Recipe and Bigger Photo )