A: I love spaghetti squash. B: I love things that are quick and simple, especially when I’m hungry and having a busy day. C: I love anything with tomatoes and basil (anyone who knows me knows I’m crazy for caprese). So, it was one of those I’m-hungry-but-busy-and-want-something-simple-but-tasty kinda days. I saw a spaghetti squash sitting there and voila, instant dinner idea. I tend to make spaghetti squash with marinara/red sauces, eaten right form the shell, but I had this wonderful pesto I made recently and figured I’d go for something a little out of my ordinary. Simple ingredients, some baking, some scraping, and lotsa nibbling: I was happy 🙂 Did I mention simple? Really… spaghetti squash, diced tomatoes (canned work just fine here), parmesan cheese, and pesto. Four main ingredients, less than an hour (sounds long, but it’s pretty much all baking- you can relax or get other stuff done for nearly all of it), and three main steps (bake, scoop, and mix). Simple, right?!
Mmm… basil and tomatoes- right from my garden. Doesn’t get any better 🙂
INGREDIENTS
1 medium spaghetti squash
1 cup diced tomatoes (about 1/2 can)
1/2 cup pesto (store-bought or homemade)
1/4 cup parmesan (grated powdery stuff works great- I used
parm/romano blend… use whatever you have)
small handful fresh parsley (I used curly- whatever works)
tomato, fresh basil, and fresh parmesan, for topping
*this makes more than needed for a couple ramekin servings, but the leftovers are great, too!
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Cut squash in half the lengthwise (a large knife works best)
Using a spoon, scoop out seeds and stringy flesh
Discard in a bowl/trash
Place squash halves on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil
Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper
Turn face down and bake for about 30 minutes, depending on squash size
When done, flip over squash…
Should be lightly golden and soft
Using a fork, check if done by poking and prodding at squash strings…
The squash should be tender and easy to loosen- if strings do not easily
come apart, the squash is underdone and should be cooked longer (again, this will
depend on size, but a half hour is usually good)
Move squash to a large cutting board or other working surface
Loosen flesh with fork (this helps to cool it faster, too)
When cool enough to handle, scoop out flesh into a large bowl
I find a spoon works well, but use whatever 🙂
You want to scrape it all out so just the shell remains (if this isn’t easy then cook longer)
Okay, now we can start mixing ingredients together!
Dump tomatoes in with squash
Then pesto…
And then parmesan
Stir well to mix
Chop up parsley
Toss in…
And stir again
Okay, now decision time…
If you’re using ramekins and baking the little guys as pictured above, then
ignore the below pic and proceed on 🙂
If you’re not using ramekins, then put squash back in shell (or use an oven proof dish), top with tomatoes and fresh parmesan, and bake for about 15 minutes or so
Plate, top with basil, and eat!
If using ramekins, scoop squash mix into ramekins
Chop up tomatoes into thick pieces (I used 1 yellow, 1 red)
Set slices on top of squash
Then top with fresh grated parmesan
I put about 1 tbsp of cheese over each ramekin
Put back in oven and bake for another 15 minutes or so, until cheese is golden
Garnish with a couple of fresh basil leaves and enjoy!!
(Keep in mind basil leaves dark when sitting in hot food, so garnish right before eating!)
