Spaghetti Squash: what is it?

Spaghetti squash reminded me of a vegetable with an identity crisis. What is it? Squash? Spaghetti?  I had never prepared it, nor have I had it in my kitchen, as evidenced by this late August post. Well, I have been storing it for a few weeks in the kitchen (squash stores well for a long time) and decided with the recent cool snap, it would be a good time to prepare the spaghetti squash.

I found a simple recipe in Terry Waters' book, Clean Food.  One thing to realize, the skin of spaghetti squash is TOUGH. A chainsaw would have helped me cut into this sucker.  Once I was done fighting with the spaghetti squash, I then began my preparation:

• preheat oven to 400 degrees
• scoop out seeds and place each half face-down on a cookie sheet
• cook for 50 minutes (or when skin can be easily pierced with a knife)
• remove from oven, allow to cool
• scrape out flesh of squash into a bowl

Spaghetti Squash: the before and after

While I allowed the scooped spaghetti squash to cool in a bowl, I cooked up some green squash in my Le Creuset with garlic and fresh basil.  Once that was bright green, I added the spaghetti squash. I tossed in more basil, some good olive oil, and a touch of lemon juice.




When we sat down for dinner, I added some grated pecorino cheese and enjoyed. Things I learned from this dish: I should have added some chickpeas or cannelini beans for more "heft" to the meal. The mister and I were both hungry later. All in all, this first attempt at spaghetti squash was a success.