Magic Spaghetti Squash

This past week, I was out of town for several days, during which time I stayed with my friends Chad and Pinkie. You may remember my mention of Pinkie Rideau a few recipes back. She’s a wonderful Blues singer with whom I’ve been doing some shows, and a really cool person. You should check her out and come see one her last few shows before she retires at the end of the year. (Here’s her Facebook page.)

Anyhoo… one of the great things about visiting friends is that I often have the opportunity to learn a new recipe. And, boy did i learn a great one this time! I had never even heard of spaghetti squash before this trip. I mean, to think there’s a vegetable out there that you can bake, then turn it into spaghetti never occurred to me. And when Pinkie did the scraping to make the spaghetti, I was floored! Floored, I tell you!! Pinkie got a real kick out of it because, to her, it’s as normal as … well… as normal as whatever goes for normal today.

Pinkie also made a meat sauce with olives and bunch of other cool stuff and I had my first plate of spaghetti squash spaghetti. And it was amazing! I loved it, and knew right away I had to share it with in. So let’s go have some fun!

Ingredients:

Spaghetti squash

Instructions:

There are a lot of variations for this one. For starters, you can cut it before or after you bake the squash. Some folks cut lengthwise, while others cut at the equator. You can do this before or after you cook. If you do it beforehand, you can scoop the seeds out then, or wait till they’re baked. Great; you can do almost anything to it and you won’t mess it up. That’s good to know. Now, here’s how I’m going to do it from now on:

Cut each squash at the equator. Leave the seeds alone for now. It’s a lot harder to get them out now, than it is to wait until they’re cooked.

Place squash on foil lined baking pan and bake at 300° for about an hour and a half. This is a lower temperature and longer time than most recipes, but Pinkie tells me it makes for a better result. After baking, turn the oven off and leave the squash right where they are for another hour (or more).

When you’re ready to serve, use a fork to remove the seeds. As you get to the end of the seeds, you’ll see that your fork starts to create strands of squash. That’s your spaghetti! Just scrape a portion onto each plate and get some sauce on there.

Variation:

If you prefer to have the squash as a side instead of the main course, you can do this instead:

Melt some unsalted butter and add a bit of crushed garlic to it.

Cut the squash lengthwise. Get your biggest knife and sharpen the bejeebers out of it. Squash are thick skinned and it’s going to take some effort to do this. Please avoid the temptation to use an ax.

Once cut, remove the seeds from the squash. Drizzle the butter over each half. Bake with cut side UP, and baste with the butter that will collect at the bottom of each squash every half hour until done.

Try to keep the butter in the squash as you create the strands. This will help coat all the strands evenly.

I recommend that you try it the normal way a time or two until you get used to this whole idea. Then, you can experiment with the butter. That’s exactly what I’m going to do with brand new, totally awesome recipe. No matter how you prepare it, if you’re like me and this is your first time experiencing this unique veggie, I think you’ll quite amazed at how well it works, and at how great it tastes. Definitely try this one out!

After you try this, please do come back and tell me your own experience, OK? And this is a great one to make sure you

Play with your food!

Lane

I’ve got more Veggie Recipes here.

Did you like this recipe? What recipes would you like to learn? Leave me a comment and tell me your thoughts! (And don’t forget to LIKE this post!) Share it using the tiles below.

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