Foodie Friday (10/18)

Spaghetti Squash and Garden Marinara Meat Sauce

Spaghetti Squash Ingredients

spaghetti squash

butter

salt & pepper to taste

Spaghetti Squash Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff. I just threw out the seeds, but you can cook them like pumpkin seeds.

4. Place squash cut-side down in a baking dish. Add enough water to cover the bottom of the dish.

5. Put in oven and cook for 45 minutes, or until tender.

6. Remove the squash from the oven. Carefully (it will be hot!) take a fork and run it lengthwise through the flesh of the squash. It will come out in strings like spaghetti!

7. Put the flesh strings in a bowl and add some butter and salt and pepper to taste.

Garden Marinara Meat Sauce Ingredients

2 lbs. ground meat (I used ground chuck because I like beef and it was on sale. Feel free to use chicken or turkey or pork or whatever you like)

roasted red bell pepper

can diced tomatoes (the tomatoes in the store did not look good, so I used canned)

2 whole carrots (chopped)

2 celery stalks (chopped)

6 whole mushrooms (chopped)

basil (I didn't measure, I just sprinkled some in)

salt & pepper to taste

Garden Marinara Meat Sauce Directions

1. Roast the red bell pepper. A quick Google search reveals many ways to accomplish this. I used my gas stove. I turned the burner on high and used a pair of tongs to rotate the pepper until it was burnt on all sides. Then I placed it in a bowl and put plastic wrap on the top to cool. Whichever method you use, the end result should be an evenly burnt pepper. You can also buy roasted red peppers in the store, but I wanted to do it myself.

2. Start a large skillet to warm on the stove.

3. In a food processor (or blender) combine the tomatoes, carrots, celery, mushrooms and basil.

4. If the pepper has cooled, remove it from the bowl and remove the skin. It should come off easily with just your hands. I read to not rinse it as this will remove the roasted flavor. De-seed the pepper, slice and chop and put it in the food processor.

5. Blend the ingredients together until they form a consistency you like.

6. Once the skillet is hot, cook the ground meat. When it is still slightly pink, add the sauce from the blender. Mix together and simmer until the thickness suits you.

7. Serve over spaghetti squash. Eat!

**Make the meat sauce while the spaghetti squash is in the oven.**

This was a very adventurous dinner. I had never made spaghetti squash or roasted a red bell pepper before. I loosely followed a meat sauce recipe but added in other stuff I wanted. I have a general dislike to peppers: I like their flavor, but not eating them outright. I really liked the roasted red pepper that was blended with the other vegetables. I could definitely taste it, but it wasn't overpowering.