Spaghetti Squash Is Not Pasta (and That's All Right With Me)

I keep pinning new recipes to my Pinterest Cooking board, so I have to keep trying new recipes.  I don't want my Cooking board to get too full.  Once I try a recipe, I move it to a different board.  I had found a recipe for spaghetti squash months ago but hadn't tried it.  Spaghetti squashes were on sale when I went to the grocery store so I decided to try the recipe.  I've had spaghetti squash before, but I didn't like it as a substitute for pasta.  I kind of have an issue with foods trying to be substitutes for other foods to make dishes more healthy or lower calorie (I refuse to use the word "skinny." I want to scream every time I hear that word used to describe food or drink.).  There's generally a reason I like a dish a specific way.  If I'm going to eat spaghetti squash, I'm going to eat squash--not fake pasta.

Because I can't leave well-enough alone, I started looking at more spaghetti squash recipes.  I stumbled across 2 baked dishes, one featuring squash with chard and another with squash as a Carbonara type dish.  I decided to mash-up the two recipes and see how it turned out.  They were pretty similar recipes with eggs & cheese as a base.  I love a good Carbonara dish, so I used that recipe as a start and threw in spinach (instead of chard) and some spices.

It turned out good. Lots of flavor, but not too rich or heavy.  I liked the combination of veggies with the eggs, cheese, and spices--a little rich but lots of freshness from the squash & spinach.

Here's my version of the dish:

Baked Spaghetti Squash & Spinach Carbonara

3 cups cooked spaghetti squash
4 cups uncooked baby spinach, torn into pieces
4 ounces pancetta, diced
1/2 small yellow onion, diced
2 large eggs
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
3/4 cups coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

Heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8 x 8 inch (or similar) baking dish.

In a heavy skillet, cook the pancetta over medium heat until it starts to get crispy and much of the fat is rendered off.  Pour off much of the fat.  Add the onions and cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until soft and beginning to brown. Add the spinach and saute until wilted. Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl whisk the eggs, then whisk in the ricotta. Fold in the cooked bacon, spinach, and onions, then 1/2 cup of grated cheese and the spices.

Mix the squash strings into the egg and onion mixture. Spread in the baking dish and top with the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese.

Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until firm and golden on top.  Let it cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Quinoa, Squash, and Scones

Dinner tonight was quinoa cooked with Lipton Onion Soup Mix and a butternut squash casserole. The idea for the quinoa came from my friend James who mentioned that he cooked quinoa this way. I boiled the water and then added the quinoa and soup mix. It took longer to cook than I remembered from the first time I made quinoa. I realized after I measured the water into the pan that I didn't have quite a whole cup of quinoa, so I had to scoop out some of the water. I estimated how much based on how much I was short of quinoa, but I think I didn't scoop out quite enough. It took about 30 minutes to cook instead of about 15. I also made a butternut squash casserole from a recipe I found cut out of a magazine in the recipe binder both my mom and I have added to. It was basically caramelized onions and roasted squash with cumin and thyme. Very tasty. The quinoa was good, but I think I needn't have used the entire packet of soup mix as it was pretty intense. I think I'd use a bit less next time.

Yesterday, I suddenly had a yen for baking. I decided to make orange-cranberry scones. As I mentioned in my previous post, I like the ones at Starbucks, but it gets expensive, and lately I've been concerned about what ingredients are going into the things I eat. It's pretty scary reading the ingredients lists on some food packages. Not that there aren't those certain items I purposely turn a blind eye to, but I've been trying to eat those sparingly.

Anyway, I thought I'd try making my own orange-cranberry scones. That way I'll save money, I'll know what's going into them, and I won't have to waste time stopping by Starbucks. I looked up several recipes and ended up using one from the Land-O-Lakes website, but I added a citrus glaze I found in a recipe on another website. Orange zest and dried cranberries went into the dough, and the glaze consisted of a mixture of lemon and orange juice and powdered sugar, which was added after they came out of the oven. They turned out well, I think. The texture was very similar to the Starbucks ones, soft on the inside and a bit crispy on the outside, and there was plenty of orange and cranberry flavor. The recipe didn't call for any salt, and I noticed its absence in the way that salt adds something to the flavor (even though it's not salty). The scones weren't bad by any means, I just think that the addition of a little salt would have punched up the flavor a bit. I think I'll try making some with lemon and currants next time.

Friday and Saturday Nights' Dinners

Yesterday I made Fennel and Squash Gratin from the Raley's 75th Anniversary cookbook. (For my east coast friends, Raley's/Bel Air is a chain of grocery stores here in Northern California.) This recipe consists of butternut squash, acorn squash, fennel bulb, onion, mascarpone cheese, and havarti cheese. The squash was microwaved ahead of time to minimize baking time, and the onion and fennel were sauteed until the onion was soft. Then everything was mixed together including the mascarpone and cubed havarti and put in a baking dish. After baking for about 30 minutes, it came out bubbling and lightly browned on top. I let it set for a little while before serving.

I have to admit that it was tasty, but it was pretty rich. There are different kinds of richness in foods, at least to me. Some kinds of richness I can enjoy more of, and other types I can only handle in small amounts. This squash dish was of the latter variety, unfortunately. I'd never had fennel bulb before and was nicely surprised by the way it tasted. The licorice smell was pretty strong coming off of it when I was chopping it up. You can find the recipe for the gratin on the Raley's website here. I have found many good recipes from Raley's on their website and in their free magazine, Something Extra. Check it out.


Last month, I wrote a post in which I mentioned making Curried Chicken and Vegetable Roast from a recipe I cut out of the November issue of Food & Wine magazine (I mistakenly attributed it to Eating Well magazine). The chicken had come out on the bland side, but the vegetable were okay. I decided to try making it again, but this time I made some changes to the recipe and to how I made it last time. (Sorry, the photo doesn't look super appetizing, but the food tasted really good.)

This time I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, which the recipe originally called for. These worked much better than the cut up chicken I used last time. For the curry marinade/sauce stuff, I began like last time making half the recipe. However, this time, I used half the non-fat Greek yogurt, but I kept all of the spices at the original amounts called for--essentially doubling the spice I used last time. I also used fresh ginger this time instead of powdered ginger--this made a big difference to the taste. I also included the juice from half a lemon. I mixed it all up, tossed in the chicken, and stirred until all the pieces were well-coated. I then covered the bowl and let it sit for about 90 minutes.

Once again, I used carrots, onions, beets, and Brussel sprouts. I did not put in any squash since we just had squash yesterday. A little olive oil, salt & pepper, and a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary rounded out the vegetables. Everything went into a rectangular baking dish (the one I used was slightly smaller than a 9x13) and then set the chicken pieces on top. Everything roasted for about an hour. This time, the dish turned out sooooo good. Everything was cooked just right, and the chicken was very flavorful.

Here's the recipe for the yogurt marinade:

1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
2 Tbs minced fresh ginger
2 large garlic cloves minced
1 Tbs Madras curry powder (I used one from Williams-Sonoma, but you can get this at Cost Plus and even some regular grocery stores)
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Put all ingredients in a bowl and stir well to blend. Coat chicken pieces and allow them to sit for at least an hour before cooking.

This is really good, and if you don't like really hot-spicy curries, I recommend the Madras curry powder I got from Williams-Sonoma; it wasn't very spicy, just a really flavorful blend of spices.

Squash Casserole Recipe

A few people asked about the recipe for squash casserole I mentioned a few times on facebook. This recipe is adapted from another recipe (see below), but I tweaked it a bit after making it the first time to cut some of the extra fat and to obtain a firmer, less soggy result. Don't get me wrong...it tasted great making it just as printed, but I found that leaving out some of the extra fat it called for didn't affect its taste and gave a firmer texture.

Summer Squash Casserole
adapted from "Summer Squash Casserole with Nuts" by Paula on allrecipes.com
8 servings

Ingredients

1 pound summer squash, sliced
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoon milk
1 egg
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
4 ounces sliced pancetta, cooked & drained (blot off any extra fat)-optional
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add squash, and cook until tender. Drain well.

3. Place squash in a large mixing bowl. Mash well. If there seems to be a lot of extra liquid, drain some off so you won't end up with a soggy result. Mix bell pepper, sugar, onion, egg, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, cheese, nuts, and pancetta (optional) to the mixture. Transfer the mixture to a 1-quart casserole dish. Top with bread crumbs. Dot with the butter.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes.

5. Allow casserole to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

I've also made this recipe with bacon instead of pancetta, but the result was not tasty. For some reason, the bacon got rubbery during the baking of the casserole, but the pancetta didn't. Once when we were out of pecans, I used walnuts which turned out pretty good.

When you cut up the squash to cook it, you can scrape out the seeds or leave them in. I've made this both ways. If you leave the seeds in, you'll end up with more liquid when you mash the squash, but you can just drain some of it off. I usually leave the seeds in unless they are really large and tough.