Preparation

1. Start by preheating your oven to 350*F.
2. Wash and chop the acorn squash in half lengthways, scooping out the middle with the seeds and throwing that out. Rub the squash halves with olive oil, salt, and pepper, before placing face-down on a baking tray. Bake for 35 minutes or until a knife run through a squash is soft, but not mushy (think almost al dente consistency, some resistance but mostly soft).
3. Once the squash has cooled down slightly (about 5-10 mins, until it's cool enough to touch), use a sharp paring knife to carefully remove the skins and stems from the outside of the squash. Chop into a medium sized dice and place in a large bowl. If you'd like, lightly toast the roughly chopped pecans in a dry pan for 2-3 minutes before combining. If not, add in your roughly chopped pecans now.
4. Next, wash and finely chop the shallots and mushrooms, sautéing in a pan with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper on medium heat for about 10 minutes, until mushrooms are soft and shallots are fragrant. Add directly to the bowl with squash and pecans.
5. To finish off the dish, drizzle about 4 fl. oz. of the pumpkin vinaigrette (or another of your favorite fruit-based vinaigrettes) and stir to coat all ingredients with it, tasting after stirring to decide if it needs more or not.
6. This side dish can immediately be served warm, or cold, and keeps really well in a zip lock bag or Tupperware in the fridge, up to 5-7 days.