Welcome to the Veggie Ventures series, where we'll take a glimpse
at veggies my husband and I would like to grow but have never really eaten!
My husband ♥s carbs. Pasta, rice, potatoes, bread--you name it, he'll eat it (but only if the bread is white!) If he could get away with eating a spaghetti sandwich with a side of garlic bread, he probably would. Don't get me wrong--I love carbs too, but I know that we could both use a little (or a lot!) less refined starchiness in our diets. Enter the spaghetti squash. We knew about the cool little transformation this squash makes once cooked, but the question remained: would it be an acceptable stand-in for pasta in our little carb-loving family?
I prepped the squash as outlined HERE then threw together a quick skillet meal to see if we'd like it enough to warrant growing it.
Veggie Verdict:
This is one neat vegetable. We both had lots of fun scraping the squash strands out of the cooked squash. While we couldn't be fooled into thinking a spaghetti squash dish was actually made of "real" spaghetti, we enjoyed the taste and texture thoroughly. This one is definitely going in the garden this fall. Along with the acorn, butternut, buttercup, and golden health squash. Winter squash (or any squash, for that matter) is a space hogger in the garden, but we'll make it work somehow.
Have you ever grown winter squash? How did it go?
Spaghetti Squash with Peas and Bacon
Yield: 2 very generous servings
1 spaghetti squash, cooked and strands removed
1 Tbl. butter
1 Tbl. flour
1 cup milk
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup peas (fresh or thawed if frozen)
salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley
Melt butter in a skillet. Add flour and whisk to combine. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes, whisking constantly. Slowly whisk in milk. Cook over medium heat until sauce has thickened. Stir in bacon, peas, and spaghetti squash. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper (make sure to taste it, it will depend on how salty the bacon was). Stir in chopped parsley before serving.
Explore the series:
I've yet to experiment much with this one -- looks and sounds fun!
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