Seriously y'all, if you've never had delicata squash before, now is the time to try it! Sweet, creamy, and really easy to hollow out and pack full of stuffing (hearty wild rice, kale, walnuts and cranberries), it's an excellent squash that makes even more excellent nosh. Ladle over some of my famous tahini gravy, and it's truly a dish to remember!
First, begin by preparing the wild rice. I'd recommend cooking the rice yourself, since it'll be more flavorful. Instead of boiling the rice in water, boil it in vegetable broth, or a combination of water and vegetable broth, and add about a tablespoon of olive oil, too. Wild rice should usually take about 45 minutes to cook, and then 10 minutes to steam. If you'd like a shorter version of this recipe, simply use microwaveable rice instead.
Next, in a cast-iron over medium heat, sauté the onion and garlic until golden brown, about 5 - 6 minutes. Once the onion and garlic are near finished sautéeing, add the shredded kale, and sauté until wilted, about 3 - 4 minutes. Transfer the onions, garlic and kale to a large mixing bowl, and add the wild rice, cranberries, walnuts, and season with salt and pepper. Mix until well combined.
Preheat the oven to 375°F, and then halve the delicata squash. Scoop out the seeds, and hollow out the inside slightly until it's completely clean. Lightly coat the delicata squash in olive oil (inside and out), transfer them to an 8x8 baking dish (or a larger dish if they don't fit), and then add the filling from the large mixing bowl to the squash, stuffing them full. Any excess filling that doesn't fit in the squash, just lay it around the outside of the squash in the 8x8. Cover the entire baking dish with aluminum foil, and then bake for 45 - 55 minutes, until the squash are completely tender and easily give way when poked with a fork.
About 10 minutes from when the squash are finished, begin the tahini gravy. In the same cast-iron that you used to sauté the onions and garlic, now sauté the other half of the yellow onion and some more garlic in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Once golden brown (5 - 6 minutes), add another 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil, and then the flour, letting it clump up around the onions. Toast the flour for about 1 - 2 minutes. After that, add the mushroom broth, low-sodium tamari nutritional yeast and raw tahini. Bring this to a light boil, and then reduce the heat to low-medium, continuously whisking the gravy well until it has thickened into a texture that you like. This should take 3 - 5 minutes or so to thicken sufficiently. Turn the heat to low, and cover to keep warm.
Once the squash are done, transfer them to a platter along with the leftover filling that didn't make it in the squash, drizzle on some tahini gravy, and shred some violife parm over the top.