Wheat Berry Salad in an Acorn Squash Bowl

CC: Two 20-something MS2’s with a past medical history of 6 years in Cleveland presenting with dueling bouts of panic and ennui, progressive over the past few weeks.

HPI: Symptoms improve on Fridays and with movies, but worsen considerably by Monday morning. Associated symptoms include wondering where the hell September went. Severe anaphylaxis to Block exams. No complaint of abdominal pain, nausea, night sweats, insomnia, or cognitive impairment, although it is assumed that these will surface by late October.

Leading Diagnosis: Calendar Diarrhea

Do the days seem to flow by unabsorbed?  Do you feel an absence of punctuation in the midst of endless studying and/or work?  For us, the only guilt-free treatment for calendar diarrhea is kitchen time.  We have to feed ourselves and each other: making the necessity into a pleasure slows down the day and makes it a bit more memorable.

Ingredients

• 1 acorn squash, split in half
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 cup wheat berries
• root vegetables: I used 1 red onion, 1 sweet potato, and 8 baby carrots cut into similarly sized pieces
• 2 Tbsp of olive oil
• 1 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup raisins (although cranberries would be better) optional
• 1/8 cup feta optional
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400F.  On the stove in a large pot, bring 2L of well-salted water to boil.  Drop the wheat berries in and cook until tender, about 40 minutes.  Meanwhile, place the butter in the bowls of the two acorn squash halves.  Place the halves in a loaf pan with an inch of water water in the bottom (they will steam as they cook).  Put the loaf pan into the oven.  Toss the vegetables with the oil and vinegar, add salt and pepper, then send those into the oven on a foil-lined sheet pan (the squash and vegetables should be on separate racks).  Every 15 minutes, open the oven to spoon the melted butter over the acorn squash and give the root vegetables a toss.  The vegetables should be done in 40 minutes, the squash may take a bit longer to become tender and browned.  When the vegetables and wheat berries are done, toss them with the sunflower seeds, raisins, and feta (and season as needed).  When the acorn squash is done, discard the pooled butter (or let it absorb), spoon the wheat berry salad in the bowl of the squash, and serve.

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