Lonely they sit among the more popular vegetables in the produce section. There are usually just 2 or 3 of them in their given bin, but people pass them by. They are spaghetti squash, perhaps the tastiest of all the squash – winter or summer.
There are two drawbacks to spaghetti squash. First, they run about $1.50 a pound, or about $5 or $6 each, and second, they are the dickens to cut open.
Even though they are five dollars or so, they are a great value because 1 squash can easily serve 6 guests. Nancy and I had one recently and got three delicious meals from the one squash. We had it buttered one night, as a starch substitute and had enough left over to have two meals of spaghetti squash fritters. The second drawback is you almost need a stick of dynamite to get into one. The rinds are very tough and it’ll take your best butcher knife to split it open, but once open, it’s a piece of cake.
To prepare it, scrape out all the seeds (which are delicious when roasted), rub some olive oil on the squash itself, season with salt and pepper, puncture the skin a with a knife, put them skin side down in a 350 oven for 30 minutes and it’s ready to eat. Simply scrape the inside of the squash with a fork. It ends up looking like spaghetti when you do, thus the name. Just a little butter is all the tasty vegetable needs, but you can use your imagination for many possible dishes.
Spaghetti squash are available in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, including ivory, yellow and orange, with orange having the highest amount of carotene.
You can bake, boil, steam or microwave it and it is a great and healthy substitute for carb loaded pasta spaghetti. It’s also easy to grow, though few bother to plant it. I didn’t this year, but I might next year.
Next time you’re in the produce section, pick up a lonely little spaghetti squash, take it home and cook it – you’ll be back for more.