My Squash Bias

I really meant to have leftovers for dinner last night.
Our fridge was stuffed.
Soup from my mother in law, those meatballs from Sunday. And veggie enchiladas that I've been meaning to post on the blog since I made them last week.

I also had a spaghetti squash that Lauren brought me from NJ. She belongs to a CSA and sometimes has a hard time eating a whole box of vegetables.

I have never had spaghetti squash. Either had Jerry.
I love squash. Butternut, acorn, kabocha. But I've always been a little biased against this type.
Remember how a few years ago when people were told to substitute actual spaghetti for spaghetti squash?
Maybe it was growing up in an Italian family, but I was always a little insulted by this. There is no way squash can or should be a substitute for pasta.

Last night I decided to throw away my (ridiculous) grudge against this vegetable and  give it a try.

I got my inspiration for dinner from a Rachael Ray recipe called Spicy Roasted Tomato Marinara with Spaghetti Squash.
Frankly, this recipe has way too many ingredients. I didn't even read them all.
I basically saw the picture of a roasted squash with sauce on top and ran with it.

I made a quick tomato sauce from some tomatoes I got at the farmers market on Saturday. I added lots of herbs and some onions, and then tossed in my leftover meatballs.

I cut the squash in half, scooped out the seeds, and roasted in the oven for 40 minutes at 400. 

When it was done I piled sauce, meatballs, and grated sharp provolone cheese into my boat squash.

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this.
It certainly didn't taste like spaghetti, but that's ok, because I didn't want it to.
I'll let my spaghetti taste like spaghetti.
I loved the thin strings of squash all mixed with the sauce and cheese. I ended up eating this whole half of squash.

Even more surprising was that Jerry loved it. I was not expecting him to like this dish at all.
I hindsight, I shouldn't have been surprised at all. He likes squash, and loves meatballs.

He even said the magic words after dinner.
The words when I know he really liked dinner, and he isn't just saying yes when I ask him 40 times if he really liked it.

"Can we have this again some time?"

Spaghetti squash, you passed the test. We can be friends now.
Just stop trying to be spaghetti.

No Can Opener Required

On Monday my father in law gave me a bucket of tomatoes from his garden.

I knew right away that I wanted to make sauce with them. I had never made sauce without the aid of a certain kitchen tool....

Until now.
I had come across the perfect recipe a few days earlier on Smitten Kitchen. I followed the recipe for Naked Tomato Sauce almost exactly.
And I am so glad I did.

I started by making an X through the skin on the bottom of the tomatoes.

I gently placed the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds, 1 or 2 at a time.
Then removed and put them into an ice bath. Once they were cool enough to handle, the skins peeled right off.

I seeded and roughly chopped the tomatoes. The recipe calls for 3 lbs of tomatoes, but I would estimate that I had at least 6 lbs.
The tomatoes went into a large pot with the salt and pepper. Cooked on med-high until it bubbled, then turned to med-low.

I didn't need to puree my sauce, it cooked down to a nice thick consistency.

The sauce is flavored very simply.

In a small saucepan, I heated the olive oil over a very low heat. I added two cloves of garlic, slightly smashed, a pinch of crushed red pepper, and two basil leaves. I let these cook very low until the oil was fragrant.
I let my sauce simmer for just over an hour. Then strained the oil and added it to the sauce.

Honestly, this was the best batch of tomato sauce I have ever made.
The tomato flavor was pure and sweet. The infused oil gave it a little bit of depth, but didn't overwhelm the tomatoes. I could have eaten it like soup. Good thing this batch was just for Jerry and I, since I "tasted" it a dozen times with the wooden spoon.

Normally I buy canned whole tomatoes and seed and hand crush them for my sauce. This recipe was an additional step and made less sauce.
But it was definitely worth it. Especially when you can get your hands on locally grown tomatoes.
And you can leave the can opener in the drawer.