Spaghetti Squash

[Pontormo]

Spaghetti squash was on sale at Whole Foods last week.

I thought, why not, haven't had it for years. Change is good.

Poked it with holes, baked it an hour. Scraped it. Tossed strands with lots of butter, salt and pepper and covered it with a simple tomato sauce made from amazing organic plum tomatoes from the farmers market that had little more than butter (yes! see Marcella Hazan), salt and pepper to augment their taste. Tore up some basil leaves. Parmigiana Reggiano.

Blah. I know, it shouldn't taste like pasta. I liked the texture. But blah nonetheless. One of my problems was how watery it was. I tried draining it except it kept welling up again as if its boyfriend had just dumped it and it juh juh juhst couldn't stop crying.

I've seen a recipe for making it into a gratin (Peterson?). I have half of a squash left over since it was rather ample.

Any other suggestions or recipes?

Thanks!

[Jason Perlow]

I find the best way to eat it is not with a marinara sauce, but cut in half, baked, with lots of butter, pecorino romano, parmesan, and salt and pepper.

[dockhl]

I bake it cut in half (I think that dries it out a bit) making sure it is a little crunchy.

Mix it with angel hair pasta and a little chicken broth, white wine (simmered of course) butter and Paremsano-Reggiano. It wil take a lot of seasoning but is a good contrast to the pasta if not mushy.......

[petite tête de chou]

I don't like spaghetti squash with tomato sauce either. Sooo...

Bake and scrape the squash as usual and toss with pesto (your choice- basil, arugula, parsley, multiple herbs, pine nuts, walnuts, pecans etc) and cheese (parmesan, romano, pinched pieces of goat cheese, etc).

Or, bake and scrape. Saute crumbled fennel or sage sausage with onions, garlic, maybe some bell pepper and/or red pepper flakes and s/p. Cool. Mix squash with sausage mixture and stuff into reserved squash shells, top with cheese of choice, drizzle a bit of olive oil over the tops and bake at about 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

[BarbaraY]

One try was enough for me. I can't stand the stuff. Only vegetable I ever found to be inedible.

[Carrot Top]

I wish you hadn't asked that question, Pontormo.

Now I'll just have to reveal the truth.

The Devil is still alive.

He lives up in the sky somewhere, residing for the most part behind dark clouds and all the boats lost in the Bermuda Triangle, for they are up there too.

The Devil's hair, as you may guess, is quite long - and it grows very rapidly - many many thousands of miles each day. It is important that the world not discover where he lives, (as you can imagine!) and this growing mane would identify the place were it left to prosper.

To assist in this ruse he is surrounded by winged bevies of mad little spirits with spiteful scissors, who all chop away at his hair endlessly.

These bits of hair fall to the earth. As they tumble rapidly through the sky, they turn into little seeds which burrow into the ground.

And spaghetti squash is born.

Whoever first found it had a terrible palate, but they were hungry, and they liked that bright yellow color that reminded them of a schoolbus. (Is the Devil blonde, you may ask? My current research has no proof of this, but the question does remain an important one.) So they stuck some little stickers in primary colors onto the global monstrosity and took it to the market.

It apparently sells, for it is still there and they keep re-stocking it.

The only suggestions I can offer you for using spaghetti squash are to use it as a doorstop till it rots. Alternately, it can be substituted for a greased watermelon thrown into the pool for the kids to play with in the summertime but be sure the dog does not eat it as it lays drying in the sun afterwards, for problems for both you *and* the dog are sure to follow.

Edited October 22, 2005 by Carrot Top (log)

[ruthcooks]

It's tolerable with gobs of butter, Parmesan, S&P, garlic, but no other way so far. I can't stand, however, the crisp texture. Does this stuff ever get tender? I can think of many better ways to use butter.

[pamjsa]

I'm not a fan of spaghetti squash treated as spaghetti (with tomato sauce, for instance), but it's very good if treated as itself. My favorite way to prepare it is to bake the squash as usual; separate the strands and toss them with some mushrooms and onions sauteed in butter. Stir in about a cup of ricotta cheese and about a cup of mozzarella, some fresh basil, and put the whole goopy mess in a buttered casserole dish. Bread crumbs and fresh pepper on top (be generous). Bake at 350 until it's bubbly, about half an hour. Works as a side or an entree, depending on the size of your portion.

[chefdg]

I braise the squash halves in chicken stock with a little thyme and bay leaves. Pick the squash with a fork and then toss with more fresh picked thyme and a little truffle oil. I wouldn't eat it like pasta, only as a vegetable component to a dish, duck comes to mind.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Has anyone mentioned making a sweet preparation for spaghetti squash? I bake it and remove the strings, mix them with a bit of butter, brown sugar, and nutmeg ... delightful!

[Apicio]

In most of Central and South America and Spain, they cook in syrup and call it "Cabellos de Angel (Angel's hair)," usually used as filling for pastries, just like quince jam.

[andiesenji]

Has anyone mentioned making a sweet preparation for spaghetti squash? I bake it and remove the strings, mix them with a bit of butter, brown sugar, and nutmeg ... delightful!

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I do the same thing, I love the flavor of butter and a sweet with any winter squash - I often use maple syrup or granulated maple sugar (The Indians in the northeast knew their stuff long before the white man arrived).

I also mix chopped apples and some kind of chutney, mango, Major Grey or similar, scrape the strands out of the squash halves into a butterd baking dish, top with the apple/chutney mix and bake in a 300 degree oven until it is hot through. With the spicy flavor of the chutney you don't really need any other seasoning - I dot with butter before I add the chutney.

I usually split the squash in half and bake them, cut side down until a fork easily pierces the squash, then let it cool. Baking it cut side down seems to extract a lot of the liquid.

I also ladle Alfredo sauce over the cooked strands and bake until hot through.

Edited October 23, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[Chloe]

In most of Central and South America and Spain, they cook in syrup and call it "Cabellos de Angel (Angel's hair)," usually used as filling for pastries, just like quince jam.

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The squash used for cabello de angel or chila is actually a totally different squash, Cucurbita ficifolia. See my own post on Malabar gourd jam a couple of years ago.

Chloe

north Portugal

[Apicio]

In most of Central and South America and Spain, they cook in syrup and call it "Cabellos de Angel (Angel's hair)," usually used as filling for pastries, just like quince jam.

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The squash used for cabello de angel or chila is actually a totally different squash, Cucurbita ficifolia. See my own post on Malabar gourd jam a couple of years ago.

Chloe

north Portugal

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Not to engage in splitting Angel's hair, you can use any of a few different varieties of squash. What I witnessed being used in Mexico and Argentina was what we call Spaghetti squash here in North America.

[Jason Perlow]

A Spaghetti Squash Casserole we made tonight:

Just scooped out cooked spaghetti squash, butter, and lots of parmesan cheese.

[AzianBrewer]

Jason, that's an excellent way to eat spaghetti squash. I was actually think of gratin. Some low carbs high protein guru advocates spaghetti squash is a great alternative to spaghetti....BULL !!! The guy should get whacked for making up such nonsense. There is no substitute for pasta!!! You just can't have Sunday Sauce without pasta!

[Jason Perlow]

Pasta it ain't. Good eatins', yes.

[fifi]

Jason . . . That is a mighty fine version of spaghetti squash. It looks like a "recipe" that I make.

I will say that I don't try to hack the thing open before cooking. I poke some holes in it with an ice pick and nuke it for a few minutes. Then it has softened enough so that cutting it in half doesn't risk removing various appendages. I then scoop out the seeds and proceed to roast until done. I didn't poke the holes before nuking only once. A rather big exploding squash in your microwave is a life changing event.

Pasta it ain't. A pretty bland vegetable (like a lot of squash, after all) but amenable to cheese, butter and other goodies. Tomato sauce? Bleh!

[Jason Perlow]

Any vegetable is amenable to lots of cheese, butter, and other goodies! But squash particularly.

[russ parsons]

i was firmly in the anti-spaghetti squash majority until a couple of weeks ago when i was faced with having to come up with a recipe on short notice. i riffed on something in a deb madison book and came up with this, which i have to say astonished everyone in the test kitchen (similarly anti-spaghetti). to me, the important question is: does using this ingredient make the dish better than it would have been without it? somehow, the spaghetti squash does this for the mushrooms.

Mushroom and winter squash gratin

Total time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

Servings: 8 to 10

1 (3 1/2 - to 4-pound) spaghetti squash

1 1/4 pounds mixed mushrooms (portabello, cremini, white button)

4 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons butter, divided

2 3/4 teaspoons salt, divided

2 tablespoons minced shallots

3 slices prosciutto, cut in thin slivers

2 leeks

1 cup creme fraiche

1 cup cream

1/2 round loaf (about 4 ounces) day-old sourdough

1/3 cup (1 ounce) freshly grated Parmesan

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Place the squash cut-side down in a roasting pan and add about half an inch of water. Bake until the squash is easily pierced with a knife, about 1 hour.

2. Wipe the mushrooms clean, trim any hard stems and cut them into thick slices. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the foam has subsided and the butter turns a light hazelnut color. Add the mushrooms, sprinkle with three-fourths teaspoon salt, cover tightly and cook, tossing occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to glisten and give up their moisture, about 3 minutes.

3. Remove the cover, add the shallots, raise the heat to high and continue cooking, stirring constantly until the mushrooms are richly aromatic and soft, but not flaccid, about 3 minutes. Transfer the mushrooms to a bowl and set aside.

4. Reduce the heat to low and, without wiping out the pan, add the prosciutto. Cook on low heat for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, cut away the dark green leaves of each leek, then cut in quarters lengthwise, leaving the leeks attached at the roots. Rinse thoroughly under cold, running water and slice thinly crosswise. Add the leeks to the prosciutto and cover tightly. Let the prosciutto and leeks sweat slowly, stirring occasionally until the leeks are quite tender, about 10 minutes.

5. Add the mushrooms back to the pan along with any liquid that has accumulated in the bottom of the bowl. Stir to combine with the prosciutto and leeks. Add the creme fraiche and continue to cook slowly, stirring occasionally, while you clean the squash.

6. Remove any scorched spots from the cut side of the squash. Hold one squash half over a large bowl, and with a fork, scrape out the strands, separating them as you work from one end of the squash to the other. When there is little left but the skin, empty the squash strands into the bowl. Repeat with the other half, adding it to the same bowl. Season the squash strands with 2 teaspoons salt and stir well to combine.

7. Add the mushroom mixture to the squash and again stir to combine. Transfer the mixture to a 2-quart gratin dish, mounding it slightly in the center. Add the heavy cream, shaking the pan gently to distribute the cream through the squash. The cream should just be visible around the edge of the squash. Bake until the cream is bubbling and beginning to darken around the outside, about 15 minutes.

8. While the gratin is baking, prepare the bread crumbs. Cut away the crusts of the bread and cut the interior into cubes. Process in a blender to make coarse bread crumbs; you should have about 2 1/2 cups. Add the Parmesan and pulse 3 or 4 times to thoroughly combine with the bread crumbs.

9. Scatter the bread crumbs evenly over the gratin, then dot with the rest of the butter. Return to the oven and bake until the top is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

[Jason Perlow]

Sounds very tasty. But now I have to go buy another squash and some leeks and shrooms to try it. Damn you, Russ.

[russ parsons]

hey, it'll double the week's spaghetti squash sales at your grocery store.

[Angela Alaimo]

hey, it'll double the week's spaghetti squash sales at your grocery store.

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lol.

But you know, I am getting just a leeetle bit tired of you people making fun of spaghetti squash. You have to admit that the novelty of it deserves at least a couple of points. And enough butter and cheese can make nearly anything flavorful.

[Genny]

I'm honestly surprised that there are so many haters here. It is one of the few veggies that my DH will eat with gusto. I always microwave it. Split in half, S/P, cut sides down in a little water, nuke for about 15-20 minutes on high (I like the strands a bit less crisp.)

Variations:

Pasta sauce- whatever you like, mixed with ground beef, etc.

Light on the tomato sauce, fresh basil and cubed mozzarella a la minute with a good pinch of red pepper flakes.

Tossed with lots of garlic, butter, parmesan, parsley and shrimp.

I have pureed it and used it in cheesecake (like pumpkin cheesecake) with the appropriate spices. The flavor was good but I should have strained the puree through a finer sieve.

Good luck and happy eating!

[AzianBrewer]

Sounds very tasty. But now I have to go buy another squash and some leeks and shrooms to try it. Damn you, Russ.

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Grass and shroom huh??