Camarão na Moranga

Fall is here. This is made quite clear every time I walk into the grocery store and see huge piles of assorted winter squash and pumpkin. Earlier this week, I couldn’t resist myself and took one back home with me. I grabbed a beautiful acorn squash, with plans of making a rich and creamy soup. But, somehow later on in the week, I deviated from my soup plans. I craved for a recipe my mom used to make during the fall season, camarão na moranga. This dish, which literally translates to shrimp in a pumpkin, was and still is one of my favorite comfort food.

The traditional recipe calls for pumpkins. But, since I had already bought a beautiful acorn squash, I though I’d use it instead. Besides the pumpkin, the traditional recipe calls for queijo catupiry (catupiry cheese). Catupiry is a soft, mild-tasting cheese that is found in many Brazilian dishes. Now, although I love this cheese, I was a bit too lazy to drive to the closest Brazilian store in Kirkland to buy it. So, I decided to use a cheese that I thought would best capture the essence of the traditional dish: Brie.

Camarao na Moranga

1 Acorn/Danish squash
1 ½ tsp olive oil
¼ cup onion, diced
¼ cup green pepper, diced
1 tsp garlic, minced
1tbsp tomato paste
6oz prawns, peeled
1 cup of brie, cubed and rind removed
1/8 cup of whole milk
1tsp finely chopped cilantro, for decoration
Salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut 1” off the top of the acorn squash and scoop out the seeds. Cut off a small portion of the bottom, in order for squash to sit upright. Pour ½ tsp of olive oil inside squash, and sprinkle a little bit of salt. Set squash on a sheet pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until tender.

In a sauté pan, combine remaining olive oil and onion. Sautee until onions began to turn translucent. Add green onions and sauté for another 2 minutes. Add garlic to the mixture and sauté for about 30 second. Add the prawns and tomato paste to the sauté mixture. As soon as the prawns begin turn pink, add brie and milk to the sauté pan and cook until the cheese begins to melt.

To serve, pour prawn and cheese mixture inside squash.

Acorn Squash