Make Ahead

a very good thingĀ indeed

August 12, 2011
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  • Serves me, or 4
Author Notes

I love pasta. Always have. But I rarely enjoy the heavy feeling it leaves behind. So I started mastering spaghetti squash. My favorite way to eat it is with a fresh tomato sauce, preferably made with organic grape tomatoes. I developed this "pasta" dish this past winter when I found myself with mounds of leftover spaghetti squash. You could also use any leftovers and make a "pasta" frittata, or pasta cake the next day by adding a beaten egg and some parmesan cheese to your leftovers and frying it all in a cast iron skillet in olive oil. until crispy around the edges.

DUZE @BakingBackwards

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 large, organic spaghetti squash
  • 2 packages organic grape tomatoes
  • 1/2 large red onion, finely chopped
  • 4 cloves organic garlic
  • 1 packet, or handful, organic fresh basil
  • coarse sea salt
  • lots of fresh cracked black pepper
  • 4 splashes white wine
  • 1 packet soft goat's cheese
  • hunk, pecorino cheese (I use a variety that has black peppercorns in it! delicious)
  • 1/2 organic lemon
  • 1/2 clamshell organic baby arugula
  • extra virgin olive oil
Directions
  1. Day One: Prepare the spaghetti squash by cutting it into 4 pieces, roasting in pie plates or baking dishes, insides down. Roast at 350 with skin on, deseeded and rubbed with a little olive oil, sea salt and pepper. I roasted a fairly large one recently for about 30 mins until the insides began to peel away with a fork like spaghetti strands.
  2. I like to refrigerate my cooked squash overnight, cooled and packed in ziplock bags with the skin and strands intact. I find it has a better texture when its reheated!
  3. Day Two: Remove the squash from the fridge. Tear out the strands with a fork, piling them into a large cake pan. Preheat the oven to 370. Once the strands are spread out in the large pan, drizzle with a little oil, salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes while you prepare the sauce.
  4. Wash the arugula and place in a mixing bowl. Dress with a little olive oil, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. Squeeze 1/4 of the lemon over it and stir. Set aside.
  5. The Sauce: Dice your onion and garlic. Saute in individual little frying pans (the size you would make an omelette in, one per person) in a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Saute gently until translucent. Chop your tomatoes while the onions cook, if using grape tomatoes, in half is fine.
  6. Add the tomatoes and saute, letting them get really juicy in the pan, you can add a touch of water to them. After they've started to form a fresh style sauce, add the white wine over medium high heat and let it reduce a little. Add a little more oil and a little squeeze of lemon to each frying pan. Add in your basil and stir through once slowly. Add a quarter of the goat's cheese packet to each frying pan of sauce. Stir to incorporate into a rose sauce. Remove the pan of squash from the oven. Add 1/4 of the squash to each pan of sauce. Do not stir.
  7. Drizzle a little oil over each mound of squash. The pan heat should be on medium. Grate roughly 1/4 cup of pecorino over each mound. Allow the cheese enough time to melt slightly. Give each pan of squash and sauce one loose stir that does not evenly incorporate the sauce over the squash. Empty each little pan into its own bowl for eating -- large soup bowls or udon bowls are good size for this.
  8. Top each bowl of squash/sauce with a big handful of the arugula you set aside earlier. Grate a bit more pecorino on top of it, a little drizzle of oil, and a ton of fresh cracked pepper. Serve immediately. COMPLICATED RECIPE BUT WORTH IT!!! :)
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