veggieburgh

A tasty way to celebrate seasonal produce.

Ingredients

• 1 C uncooked spiral pasta
• 1 bunch kale
• 1 yams
• 1 medium acorn squash
• 1 medium onion
• 4-6 cloves garlic
• 1/3 C veggie ground beef
• 2 Tbs nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 1/2 Tbs pine nuts
• 1 Tbs crumbled feta (optional)
• 1/2 tsp better than bouillon (vegetable flavor)
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
2. Meanwhile, peel and dice the squash and yam. The squash should be about 1/2″ cubes and the yam should be slightly smaller than that. Toss with olive oil, half of the whole garlic cloves (peeled), thyme, sage, salt, and pepper in a pyrex baking dish. Cover with tin foil and bake for about 30 minutes, until you can pierce them with a fork. Don’t overcook or they’ll fall apart later.
3. While the squash and yam are baking, remove the kale stems and wash leaves well. Tear into slightly larger than bite-size pieces and put into the salted boiling water. This helps remove the bitterness from the leaves. If you have a large metal colander, put the leaves in the colander in the pot so that you can reserve the water. Boil the kale for about 5 minutes.
4. Finely dice the onion. Heat 1 Tbs olive oil in a large pot (I use a cast iron dutch oven), and sauté the onion until golden brown. Chop the remaining garlic and add when the onion begins to turn soft. Add the veggie ground beef and cook until thawed.
5. Drain the kale, but keep the water. Put the pasta in the water and cook as the package directs.
6. Mix 1/2 C of the boiling water with the better than bouillon, and add the broth, red wine vinegar, and kale to the pot with the onions. Cover and cook for 10 minutes to soften the kale.
7. Remove the yam and squash from the onion and add to the kale. Gently stir all of the ingredients, add the nutritional yeast, and add salt and pepper to taste. Toss with feta (optional), and serve with the pasta.