Squash Like You’ve Never Had It
Serves: 4
Ingredients
½ medium onion, chopped
4 large cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
6 plum tomatoes, chopped with liquid reserved OR 1 28-oz. can Muir Glen whole plum tomatoes
¼ cup olive oil
1 T basil or oregano
Unrefined sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions
Heat oven to 375º. Using a large chef’s knife, halve squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Put a ¼” deep layer of water on a cookie sheet or large roasting pan (enough water so that it won’t burn off quickly while in the oven) and lay open sides of squash face down. Transfer to hot oven and bake 35 minutes or until you can easily pierce the skin with a fork.
Meanwhile, heat large skillet over medium-high heat and add enough olive oil to the pan so that when you tilt it on its side you see about 1 inch of oil collect in the bottom corner. Make sure oil is hot but not smoking then turn down heat to medium. Sauté chopped onion with a dash of sea salt for about five minutes or until translucent but not too brown. Add garlic, another dash of sea salt, half of the herbs and stir until fragrant (do not brown), about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, another dash of sea salt and break down tomatoes with a spoon. Cook until warmed through. Add sea salt, freshly ground pepper and herbs to taste.
Scoop spaghetti squash out with a large spoon and put into a bowl. Add a couple dashes of salt and pepper and mix. Put enough for you and your company into the large skillet with tomato sauce to infuse the flavor of the sauce into the spaghetti squash. Enjoy!
Option: After sautéing onions and garlic add ½ pound organic pasture-raised ground chuck and brown until cooked through. Continue with the rest of the recipe after this point. Make sure you don’t cook at too high a heat or you will get meat “pellets”; slow and gradual is better here. Remember to season meat with a pinch of herbs while cooking; the flavors will infuse wonderfully into the meat. Be free to experiment with different meats or sausages. A popular Italian combination is 1/3 pork, 1/3 beef, 1/3 veal.
Cooking Idea: If the sauce is too thick then add either ¼ cup white wine or some of the liquid from the spaghetti squash pan.
Healthy Idea: Add more nutrient value to your sauce by dropping in handfuls of baby spinach or finely chopped dark leafy greens such as kale, collards or chard. Small broccoli heads cook quickly when added after the tomatoes. Carrots add sweetness; sauté with onions before adding garlic, as noted in recipe.
Did you know? If you added too much salt by accident and you can no longer scoop it out then add a cut up potato to the sauce to soak it up. The more exposed sides to the potato, the more it can soak up the salt. Taste after five or ten minutes and see how it is.