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EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Fall is winter squash season. If you’ve never cooked with spaghetti squash, now’s the time to try it.
While it’s often touted as a more nutritious, lower-carb alternative to pasta, it’s a delicious vegetable in its own right and can be served in endless healthy ways.
For most recipes, start by cutting the squash in half and scooping out the seeds, then roast in the oven until tender. Depending on the size of the squash, this is usually around an hour. A large squash will feed six to eight people as a side dish. A smaller squash will serve four as a side, or can be stuffed for two as a hearty entrée.
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Once the squash is cooked, the strands of flesh can be scraped out with a fork. We like to put them in a hot skillet with a tiny dab of olive oil and salt to brown up a little, but you can skip this step. Spaghetti squash is one vegetable that really is best without a lot of butter or oil, which can give it a strange, slippery texture, so go light if you do give it a little fry.
Finish by topping it with whatever you like. We came up with two healthy, super-easy recipes below that have only four ingredients each (not counting salt, pepper and pan spray). Both are delicious, lower carb and very reasonable on calories. They’re good enough that anyone will enjoy them, but can be part of a gluten-free, low carb or keto diet. Check out the attached photo gallery for pictures of the recipes in progress.
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Once you’re familiar with how to cook spaghetti squash, use these recipes as a guideline but create your own twists. The spaghetti squash with roasted tomatoes, for example, is delicious topped with grilled shrimp and a drizzle of pesto, or with caramelized onions and a sprinkle of grated gruyere cheese.
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Stuffed spaghetti squash can be filled with just about anything. Sticking with the healthy theme, try diced fresh tomatoes, onion, green peppers, and turkey Italian sausage with a bit of reduced fat mozzarella for a fresh pizza flavor; or add a scattering of rinsed black beans, salsa, and reduced fat cheddar for a Southwest take. Don’t care about calories and want something indulgent? Go for pepperoni, pizza sauce and piles of whole milk mozzarella; or try chorizo, sharp cheddar and sour cream. Use your imagination.
Spaghetti squash with basil and roasted tomatoes
Serves five or six as a side dish
INGREDIENTS
1 large spaghetti squash, 3-4 pounds
Olive oil spray or other baking spray
6 Roma tomatoes, in bite-sized chunks
Salt and pepper
Handful basil leaves, sliced
3 ounces feta or parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the squash in half and scoop out seeds. Place on a sheet pan cut-side up and spray with oil. Bake on the middle shelf until the squash flesh is tender when poked with a knife, around 1 hour. The exact time will depend on the size of your squash.
2. In the meantime, place the tomatoes on a sheet pan lined with nonstick foil and spray with oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and place in the oven with the squash, on the top shelf, until reduced and slightly caramelized, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
2. When the squash is tender, permit to cool slightly and scrape out the flesh. If desired, heat a wide skillet and spray with oil, then add the squash and fry lightly for 5-10 minutes for some golden edges. You may skip this step.
3. Toss the squash with salt, pepper and basil leaves. Place in a serving dish and top with the tomatoes and a sprinkling of feta or parmesan cheese.
Per serving (roughly): calories 93, net carbs 11g, fat 8g, protein 5g, fiber 3g.
Brunch stuffed spaghetti squash with sausage, egg and cheese
Serves two as an entrée
INGREDIENTS
1 small spaghetti squash, about 2 pounds
Olive oil spray or other baking spray
Salt and pepper
6 ounces lean turkey breakfast sausage, fried and crumbled
3 ounces shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
2 eggs
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the squash in half and scoop out seeds. Place on a sheet pan cut-side up and spray with oil. Bake on the middle shelf until the squash flesh is tender when poked with a knife, around 45 minutes. The exact time will depend on the size of your squash.
2. Remove squash from the oven and rough up the strands with a fork, leaving the meat in the shell halves. Add equal amounts of sausage to each half, then make a depression in each half and break in eggs. Top with cheese and return to the oven for 15 minutes or longer, until the eggs are set to your liking.
Calories: 367; fat: 21g; net carbs: 11g; protein: 29g; fiber: 3g.
Contact Aimee Blume at [email protected]
https://www.courierpress.com/story/entertainment/dining/2021/10/21/how-cook-healthy-dishes-spaghetti-squash/8496180002/
