Sunday, November 18, 2007

Spaghetti Squash w Tomato Sauce

Local Ingredients
Fitler Square Farmer's Market Spaghetti Squash
Buoni Amici (Hammonton NJ) Tomatoes
Fitler Square Farmer's Market Basil
Fair Food Farmstand Garlic

To be fair, I am not exactly sure where the squash or basil is from since I froze the basil and the squash had been sitting around for awhile. But am pretty certain it was from one of the fine vendor's at Fitler Square (Saturdays 10am-2pm, year round). The tomatoes were from Buoni Amici (Fitler Square Farmer's Market) - she has the best red pepper & arugula during the summer.

Step 1: Saute garlic in olive oil for 1-2 minutes.
Step 2: Blanch tomatoes by dipping into boiling water and then into a bowl of cold water. Peel tomatoes and remove cores. Either chop or hand squish into the pan with the garlic.
Step 3: Bring tomato, oil, garlic to a boil and add salt and basil (fresh, dried, frozen). Adding the salt early in the process causes the tomatoes to break down into a sauce. Adding the salt later in the process will result in a chunkier sauce.
Step 4: Simmer sauce for 1-2 hours adding water as needed. The sauce should always be a little bit runny.
Step 5: Cut spaghetti squash in half and remove seeds. Rub cut side of squash with oil and place cut side down in pan. Roast for 1 hour at 350-400*.
Step 6: Use a fork to pull the "spaghetti" strands out of the halves of spaghetti squash and put in a bowl. Top with sauce (and parmesan cheese if you like).

Alternative: Use spaghetti squash halves as "bowls". You have to hold them with a thick towel and cannot put them down - but this eliminates dishes. S and D thought this was a fabulous invention, K prefers a bowl.

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