Being Italian, pasta lies near and dear to my heart, and this weekend I was definitely craving some Italian cuisine. Browsing yeast free/Paleo recipes on the interwebs, I've discovered that a lot of people substitute spaghetti squash for noodles in their pasta. Awesome, I thought. I'll give that a try, I thought. Easy, I thought.
So to the grocery store I went. And there was one squash there. Only one stinking squash. And this squash had three stickers on it, one labeled "summer squash," one labeled "organic," and the last one labeled "Mexico."(Fishy, I know.) Not being very knowledgeable in the squash department, I decided to believe those stickers and assume summer squash and spaghetti squash were interchangeable, and I bought that squash.
Turns out, that squash was not a summer squash at all, but a winter squash (Butternut to be exact). And I highly doubt it was "organic." I'm thinking the only properly placed label was "Mexico."
Moral of the story?? Shop at farmer's markets when possible and Google image spaghetti squash before you head to the grocery store.
Luckily, that misfit squash was tasty.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 butternut squash
- 1/2 onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- pine nuts
- red chili peppers
- parsley
- ground turkey/beef (optional) - we used ground turkey
- salt to taste
Directions:
1. In a large skillet, cook ground turkey until no longer pink. Drain fat and set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan on medium-high heat. Dice 1/2 onion and garlic then add to saucepan.
3. Cut the butternut squash down the middle. Scoop of the seeds and then julienne the flesh to get even, thin stripes. Add the squash, pine nuts, red chili peppers, and parsley to the saucepan.
4. Cook for 10 minutes or until squash becomes al dente. (Cook longer if you like your pasta noodles soft.)
5. Add the cooked, ground turkey. Add salt to taste.
Yummy "spaghetti" that your body will thank you for! Yeast free, gluten free, diary free, and exceedingly delicious!
You're welcome ;)
10 comments:
Yum, that looks so good! I tried to cook spaghetti squash once and it was total mush!!
I am not kidding, this EXACT thing happened to me last week!! I was SO excited to try summer squash and picked up with was labeled summer squash, from the summer squash bin at Kroger and turns out it was also a butternut one!! I was so mad once I cooked it and cut it open and realized it. I tried to make spaghetti out of it as well but it ended up getting really mushy! I am determined to try again!
This looks incredible!
Yum! What did you use to julienne the squash? Just a knife?
Adding this to my recipes!
Looks delicious! Trying it out this weekend!
Spaghetti squash will give you a closer 'noodle' and it is eventually and oblong yellow version of a watermelon. Same oval shaping to it.
I am not a fan of spaghetti squash but i love buttnernut- sounds like a great mistake!
I also use Zuchinni as a pasta substitute and its great!
Well that looks super yummy, despite the squash confusion! I have always wanted to try spaghetti squash but for some reason I feel really intimidated. I need to just suck it up and try it!
Looks tasty! I also get confused with squash and melons. Or any thing in the produce section, but I'm getting better, slowly!
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