Spaghetti Squash with Special Sauce!

Squash has been dated as far back as 7,000 B.C. in parts of Mexico and South America. According to The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, explorers from Europe originally thought squash were melons and were delighted to find them everywhere they went in the new world.

Squash is one of many examples of a modern food staple discovered in the Americas. I'm starting to think that the diet of most Europeans before they began exploring consisted of grass, tree bark and the flesh of what ever animal they weren't currently using as transportation.

Today, squash is divided into two primary families, summer squash, most abundant in late summer, and winter squash, which thrives in the fall. Summer squash, such as cucumber and zucchini, have edible skin, soft seeds and require little cooking. Winter squash, like pumpkin and acorn, have tough skin, hard seeds and require an ample amount of cooking time.

Here I used spaghetti squash, a winter variety, as a substitute for — you guessed it — spaghetti. It's so much lighter than pasta and has a delicate flavor. In fact, I prefer spaghetti squash over actual spaghetti.

The sauce is a traditional store bought sauce with some amplifiers. Kind of like a factory car turned into a hot rod. Fresh sausage, onion and green pepper give it a flavor boast that is sure to please.

Eat well, cook often ...

SPAGHETTI SAUCE WITH SPECIAL SAUCE
Serves 4, 45 minutes
1  Spaghetti squash (3 to 4 lbs.)
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 lb Italian sausage
1 C  Red pepper, diced
1 C  Green pepper, diced
1 C Red onion, diced
3 C Traditional  pasta sauce

FOR THE SQUASH
Cut squash in half length-wise. Scrape seeds from middle. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and cook in apreheated oven at 375° for 40 minutes. Let cool slightly and scrape flesh into a bowl with a fork.

FOR THE SAUCE
Over medium heat, cook sausage in a large pot until browned and cooked through. Remove to a paper towel-lined bowl. Sauté onion and peppers in sausage drippings until soft, 5 to 6 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Return sausage to pot and add pasta sauce, cover and bring to a simmer

Spoon sauce onto a portion of squash then shower with fresh grated parmesan cheese (otional),
serve immediately.

Lemon Spinach Spaghetti Squash

Printable version

Fall has returned and with it the multiple varieties of winter squash. Originating in the Western hemisphere, there is evidence of squash being consumed in Mexico more than 7,000 years ago. Unlike the summer variety, winter squash has inedible skin and tough flesh that needs to be cooked for a long time to be eaten. They are also larger and heavier and impossible to chuck at passing revelers on a fall hey ride with any accuracy.

Generally, I am not a big fan of winter squash but one variety stands out: Spaghetti squash. I love to use it as a replacement for the obvious – spaghetti pasta. It has a nice mild flavor and is much lighter in the belly.

For this recipe, I combine spaghetti squash with spinach and accent it with lemon and thyme. Residual heat from the squash right out of the oven is used to wilt and cook the spinach. The fresh lemon and thyme combined to give the dish a signature taste. It’s surprisingly light and flavorful and a great side for almost any meal.

BEHIND THIS BITE
Years ago I made a recipe similar to this that I found in Cuisine at Home magazine. The original dish called for angel hair pasta and I thought spaghetti squash would be a great substitute. The squash actually enhanced the flavor. It’s much lighter and has a subtle garlic-like taste and compliments the flavors surrounding it. I was really pleased with the dish overall.

It seems that I make a lot of heavy dishes, so it was nice to make something that would appeal to people who are dieting or more apt to eat lighter. Spaghetti squash is a fantastic substitute for spaghetti pasta. This is the second dish I have created for Behind the Bites that I have done it and both were a success. The first time the swap was for spaghetti and meatballs, which feature a sauce and protein that are really the star of the show. In this dish the squash is much more prominent and it stood up well next to the lemon and thyme.

Once again, I'm impressed with the spaghetti variety of squash. I'm really not a fan of winter squash in general. I think it’s bland and has to be cooked so long that it looses it's texture. Spaghetti squash is definitely the exception. I look forward to working with it again.

Eat well, cook often ...

RECIPE
Side for 4; 45 minutes
1 Spaghetti squash, 4 to 5 lbs
1 Tbs Thyme, fresh
1 Lemon, juice and zest
3 C Baby spinach
1/4 C Parmesan cheese, fresh grated

Clean, season, cook squash
Cut squash in half length-wise. Scrape seeds from middle. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 375° for 40 minutes or until cooked through.

Toss and serve
Place spinach, thyme, lemon zest and juice in a large bowl, add hot squash and toss for 2 minutes, wilting the spinach. Plate and garnish with fresh grated parmesan.