Arizona Chicken in Acorn Squash -- The Soup That Wraps You From the Inside

December. The pandemic is surging — the news says so, the numbers say so, the loading docks say so because the workers are calling in sick and the trucks are sitting in lots waiting for someone healthy enough to unload them. I drive through the surge the way I drive through weather — carefully, steadily, with the knowledge that the road does not care about the conditions and the conditions do not care about me and the only thing I can control is the truck and the mask and the hand sanitizer and the slow cooker, and the slow cooker is simmering chicken noodle soup, and the soup is the only cure I have for anything.

The literary agent sent me a proposal template. A cookbook proposal — table of contents, sample recipes, author platform, comparable titles. I stared at it on my phone in the truck cab and felt the specific vertigo of a woman who has been told she might write a book about cooking in a truck cab, which is either the most natural thing in the world or the most absurd, and the line between natural and absurd is where I live, and the line is thin, and I am walking it in steel-toed boots.

I am going to write the proposal. Not because I think it will lead to a book (it might, it might not) but because the writing of it is the doing of it, and the doing is the thing I know how to do. I will describe my recipes and my life and the truck cab kitchen and the chocolate sheet cake and the grandmother who taught me to frost it warm and the sister who loved it and the children who eat it. I will write the proposal in the truck, on the road, between loads, because that is where everything real happens — on the road, between the places you are going and the places you have been, in the space between the departure and the arrival.

I made a big pot of white chicken chili for the week — chicken, white beans, green chiles, cumin, sour cream. A December staple, a warm-you-up soup that fights the cold the way a blanket fights the cold — by wrapping itself around you from the inside. The kids ate it with cornbread. Gayle ate it at her table while I sat across from her and watched her eat and noticed that she is eating more now, that the portions are bigger, that the porch-plate era ended and the table era resumed and the resumption is the recovery. The table is the medicine. The company is the dose.

White chicken chili was already simmering that week — the beans, the green chiles, the cumin doing their quiet work — but when I thought about the recipe that really captures what December felt like that year, it’s this one: Arizona Chicken in Acorn Squash, all warmth and substance and something that asks you to slow down and sit at a table. That’s the whole point, isn’t it? The table is the medicine. If you’re in a season where you need something that wraps around you from the inside, this is the one.

Arizona Chicken in Acorn Squash

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 50 min | Total Time: 1 hr 5 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 2 medium acorn squash, halved and seeded
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1/2 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
• 2 tablespoons sour cream, for serving
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

1. Roast the squash. Preheat oven to 400°F. Brush the cut sides of the acorn squash halves with olive oil and season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Place cut-side down on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast for 30–35 minutes, until just tender when pierced with a fork.
2. Season the chicken. While the squash roasts, toss the cubed chicken with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and remaining salt and pepper until evenly coated.
3. Cook the filling. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat with a drizzle of oil. Add the chicken and cook 5–6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cooked through. Add the red and green bell peppers and cook 2–3 minutes more until softened. Stir in the black beans, corn, and salsa. Reduce heat to low and simmer 3–4 minutes until heated through and flavors meld.
4. Fill the squash. Flip the roasted squash halves cut-side up on the baking sheet. Divide the chicken filling evenly among the four cavities. Top each with 2 tablespoons shredded cheese.
5. Melt the cheese. Return the filled squash to the oven and bake an additional 8–10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
6. Serve. Top each half with a small dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of fresh cilantro. Serve immediately at the table.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 390 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 6g | Sodium: 620mg