A question- I am cooking a spaghetti squash for dinner, and I wanted to know which option I should pursue, since I will not be able to eat the entire thing. I am going to cut it in half and clear out the seeds, then place it face down in boiling water bake it to cook. Should I cook the whole thing and save the leftovers in tupperware, or would it be better to just wrap up half, uncooked, and cook it tomorrow?
*** Update ***
I really don’t know where the boiling water thing came from. I even had the oven warming up as I typed this. I think as I was typing this I just had spaghetti on the mind and blurted out boiling water.
Michael D.
It’s what I had for dinner last night. Suggestion:
– Cook it till it’s about 75% done like you planned.
– Scoop it all out. (without damaging the outter skin)
– Mix the scooped out squash with carmelized onions and a tablespoon or two of honey (to taste)
– Put it back in the shell
– Finish cooking in the oven
Delicious.
Update: Oops! Ignore. Mine was a Butternut squash; not a spaghetti squash.
ninerdave
You can wrap the other half in plastic wrap and you’ll be fine. Personally I’m not big on left over cooked squash as it gets all mushy.
RSA
I’d save it uncooked, for freshness, but I’ve had reheated cooked spaghetti squash and it’s still fine, as long as it hasn’t dried out.
jrg
Cook all of it, and give half to Tunch.
Krista
Save the uncooked half for tomorrow, John. How are you planning on seasoning it?
Thom
Then post a photo of Tunch with the bowl in front of him.
Thom
John
There seems ot be a blockquote problem. My comment above had the "Cook all of it, and give half to Tunch" in bq’s, but it didn’t show up that way. I even went in to edit and it showed it inside the bq’s.
Update: It fixed it when I put in all on the same line.
Keith
You could try what my mother did about 20 years ago: microwave the squash. I think most folks can guess what happens and what it looks like – remember, this is spaghetti squash – after about 3-5 minutes on High.
aimai
Throw it out and cook some delicata squash. Just kidding. I’d wrap the part you aren’t going to cook and store it uncooked. Its straightforward enough to cook half a portion again another time.
aimai
Not Sleeping
We made squash the other night. We cored and diced the squash and then stirred into a bowl with walnuts, olive oil, blue cheese and some apples and then baked it at 425 until done. Very tasty…….
over it
My mom cuts it in half, scoops seeds, places each half face down in a shallow corning ware dish and bakes it at 350 until soft (bout an hour)….she then uses a fork to scrape out the inside (looks kinda like spaghetti…go figure), stirs in a bit of butter, and serves it with red sauce and parmesan. Basically, we have it instead of pasta. Good Luck!
jake 4 that 1
@Thom: And in the next and final shot we see a furry blur, fangs and claws extended, flying at the camera.
Mr. Cole’s body was never fully reassembled.
p.s. To over come the 1 paragraph blockquote gremlin, you have to delete until you’ve got a single block of text and then use soft returns. BJ 2.0 doesn’t like hard returns in blockquotes.
Oliver's Neck
Wrap it and save it.
ThresherK
@Thom:
My cat will beg squash, broccoli and sweet potatoes.
But that little thing of wheatgrass I bought from the pet store? Not a sniff.
Let’s see what Tunch will do.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Keith, I microwave spaghetti squash all the time with no explosions.
Get a shallow dish big enough to hold the squash and put about an inch of water in it. On a cutting board, steady the squash with one hand, while holding a large knife in the other. Think about all the people who ever betrayed you, then raise the knife, yell that name, and add "Dead!" as you penetrate the squash’s rind. Repeat as needed, depending on the level of betrayal you’ve endured in your life. Make sure your left hand knows what your right hand is doing, especially if you live in a country with non-socialized medical care.
Then place the squash in the dish, loosely cover with plastic wrap, nuke on high for ten minutes, and let it rest for a few minutes before you slice and scoop.
(Thanks to R.E. of Chicago for the tips.)
HankP
if you’re going to store it after it’s been cut, sprinkle some lemon juice on it to keep it from turning brown.
dewberry
I like spaghetti squash…sounds good. My favorite though is butternut squash. Last time I made it though, my 10yo spat it out at the table, saying, "I thought that was sweet potato. You better warn me!"
Tonight at the dewberry household it is old-fashioned pot roast with carrots, potatoes and onions. It is a dank rainy day, so that seemed appropriate.
Laura W
After that post, I totally feel no need to apologize for an O/T post.
If there are any bubbly lovers in the room, I recently discovered Wine Woot. They are having a steamy deal today on a 3-pack of Mumm sparklers. It’s never too early to plan for NY’s eve, not to mention INAUGURATION DAY. I scanned the reviews and the wines sound solid and the price, er, steamy. $5 shipping for 6 bottles. What’s not to love?
I’m in for two 3-packs.
(Pee Ess for South of I10 and other cheap red wine lushes: I’m drinking a Yellow Tail Pinot Noir, 2008, for the first time tonight. Very good for no money at all. I’ve been a fan for many years, but never tried the Pinot.)
JGabriel
@jake 4 that 1:
Or, just wrap everything in p, /p tags (using the … wait for it… "p" button) then put the blockquote tags around that. Using the "p" tags gets rid of the bolding and makes the blockquote agnostic with respect to hard and soft returns.
.
Amanda Marcotte
Take the other half, cook it, put it in the blender and use it as a pasta sauce tomorrow.
Comrade The Other Steve
Butternut squash is my favorite!
I’ve never had spaghetti squash though, so hard to really compare.
mellowjohn
scoop it out into a pot of water brought to a rolling boil.
boil for 2 minutes 20 seconds.
drain into a collander.
throw it all away and order a pizza.
smiley
Boil it? Yeesch. It’s probably too late but, for gawd’s sake, broil, bake or grill the fucking thing. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck Fuck.
jake 4 that 1
@ThresherK: Mine will eat tomato sauce, any kind of legume and mushrooms. They like to steal pizza crusts, which isn’t funny when your memory is starting to go. "Wasn’t there a pizza crust on this plate? I don’t remember eating that."
Glad to hear I don’t own only cats crazier than Sarah Palin.
Ned R.
Been a while since I’ve cooked spaghetti squash but it’s always the oven for me — storage I can’t seem to remember what I did, though…I think I always fully prepared a batch with sauce or whatever before storage.
Gary
Don’t boil it. You’ll spoil it. Nuke it instead.
Stab with a fork in a few places, nuke for 4 minutes, then cut into halves. It’s much easier to cut when it’s parboiled.
Gut both halves and wrap both halves in in plastic wrap. Put one half into the MW and nuke for 10 more minutes. When done, it’ll lose all turgor and the color will turn deeper orange.
Unwrap itand let it cool before you scrape out the strands, else you’ll burn your hands.
NEVER use tomato sauce with spaghetti squash. You’ll get a soggy mess. Use pesto or sundried tomato pesto instead.
Let the half you are keeping cool before you put it into the fridge.
LarryB
@Michael D.: Your method sounds good. John, Of all the winter squashes, the spaghetti squash is the worst! Those stringy things are gross. Go with M.D.’s butternut suggestion or (my favorite) try the acorn squash. Yum.
jnfr
I’d save it uncooked.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
As long as you don’t think of spaghetti squash as a substitute for spaghetti, you should be fine. It’s a neat, weird little foodstuff all on its own. Death to the ersatz and the substitute!
sarah in brooklyn
don’t cook it in boiling water! bake it, face down, on a lightly oiled baking surface. the water will make it taste less yummy!
Comrade Darkness
@smiley,
Sounds more like steaming, than outright boiling, but still.
I don’t do pasta squashes. But for regular acorn, butternut, those colorful carnival ones, etc, I just chop in half with the chinese cleaver. Take the small flat tray for the toaster oven, oil it lightly, lay the squash face down on it so it seals in the steam and bake in the toaster oven at 450 for 15-25 minutes, depending on breed. If the skin is fork soft, it’s done. I like this better than the nuke-ro-wave, cuz you get the browned roasty flavor in it.
Don’t forget the best part. Rinse the muck off the seeds, spread them with a little oil and salt on the same little baking tray and toast for about 5 minutes, or until they start to sizzle. Yum. Yum. Like pumpkin seeds, only hot and delicious. When I make squash risotto, the roasted seeds make an excellent topping.
Joshau Norton
So does spaghetti squash taste like spaghetti, or stringy zucchini? All my diet books say to use it as a substitute, but I’ve always been leery of that kind of advice.
Some very barfable dishes have resulted from the words "such and such makes a great substitute". Like substituting yogurt for mayo. I don’t think so.
Stannate
I believe that you should follow the advice of Barry and Levon, who say it’s best to cook, then chill (in the Tupperware):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpuUemDBz-8
carsick
Cook and freeze in a freezer bag or in a vacuum bag. Reheat anytime within the month.
cassandra m
I’m a big fan of the microwave method. Just cut in some vents all the way through the rind, and microwave on high for 10 minutes or so (more for larger squash). remove from the microwave, slice in half (use potholders, this WILL be hot), scoop out the seeds, then use a fork to scrape out the squash. I toss my squash with a good olive oil (you can quickly saute some garlic and hot red peppers in the oil then use the whole mixture on the squash), and it is perfect to warm up the next day for lunch or dinner.
Good luck!
protected static
@Joshau Norton: Stringy zucchini. It can be pretty good, so long as you take it at face value and don’t try to pretend it’s pasta. That way lies madness, madness I tell you.
Gary
Parboiled shredded cabbage (with a little crunch left) is also a good spaghetti substitute.
Substitute in function, not the same taste of course. And you can use it with tomato sauces It doesn’t release all its residual water into the sauce as spaghetti squash does.
popeyemoon
I have no damn ideal,but will find out one day and let you know.
Lauren
The boiling water thing: When I bake spaghetti squash, I put it face down in a dish that has about a quarter inch of water in the bottom. It’s not uncommon.
Now, the chef husband cooks it facedown without water, so maybe you’d better follow his thinking.
Keith
Keep in mind, that was about 20 years ago, before venting explodables with a knife was invented :)
Liz
I favor microwaving it, too…and I enjoy a hearty marinara on it. But, then, we tend to make pasta sauces that you can serve with a spatula in this house, so there’s not a lot of runny liquid to make it all gooshy.
It’s an interesting vegetable… it’s a little crisp, not a lot of flavor of its own, and a great vehicle for sauce. I’m trying to find a good comparison, but failing. It is what it is, and it’s worth trying at least once.
Pennypacker
Spaghetti squash is the one squash that I think requires more than just sitting in boiling water in the oven. We usually boil it, then scoop it out and saute it in butter. It lives up to its name and is very stringy, so you will find that the saute moment is what makes it soft and tasty…
Banks
It is way faster in the microwave — but cut it in half, scoop out the guts, and place it face-down in a tray of about 1/2 inch of water. Then nuke it for about 11-12 minutes before you use a fork to turn it into strands. Way, way faster and just as good. And it’s fine reheated, so long as you do so in a couple days. Just like spaghetti, but better!
Mike
These things wouldn’t happen if you chose your words carefully, like President Bush.
South of I-10
@Laura W: I haven’t tried the Yellow Tail. I am currently stuck on the aforementioned Sebastiani Pinot and Bogle Zinfandel. I have absolutely no suggestions for cooking spaghetti squash, but I am taking note of all of yours. What a great blog – cooking, wine and beer tips, politics and cats!
JL
A week ago we were all hyperactive political junkies and tonight we are trading recipes for squash. Tonight I watched last week’s episode of
and it’s worth watching for the paintball scene alone.
Grant
Cut in half, oil, oven.
No reason not to cook the whole thing. Squash is cheap, and cooked squash is endlessly usable. Risotto, bread, etc.
Suggestions, though — roast garlic in the pit while you do the squash. Infuses a little garlic flavor and kills two birds with one stone.
Grant
And LarryB is right: spaghetti squash sucks. Buy acorn or butternut.
Laura W
@South of I-10: Well, I can also offer that I tried the Yellow Tail 2007 Grenache/Shiraz tonight as well, a strong favorite in previous years. Not so much right now. There is a ton of year-to-year variation in their reds so I can never predict which of their varietals, or blends, I might favor at any given time.
I can say for sure that the Pinot (2008) rules over the G/S 07.
For like $5.98 in the .750 ml. I mean, it’s light and you’re not gonna confuse it with a Russian River or Carneros Pinot, but you also won’t screw your face up into the EEEWWWW grimace upon first sip, or 45th sip.
There is nothing like red wine in cold weather, but I am preparing for a miserable night’s sleep (go little blue Advil PM!) and a hellacious headache and bitchy mood tomorrow. I haven’t been able to drink Zin for decades. Makes me sicker faster than any wine alive. Definitely need to hang out on the lighter red grape end of the continuum. If I hang at all.
Alan
@Laura W:
Or mulled wine. :)
Curt
The hot water should be bottled for dehydrated babies.