What in the world is Spaghetti Squash?

I've never heard of spaghetti squash before.  But then a friend from work who loves farmers' market brought a spaghetti squash lunch one day and I was intrigued.  So I decided to plant one in my garden.


Apparently it's a winter squash.  Meaning it has a super tough rind that keeps the insides good through the winter.  But it grows in the summer.  It's ready to pick when it's a bright yellow color all over and about the size of a football.

These guys are really tough to cut.  A cleaver or electric carver will be the easiest way to cut it.  I had neither... but I did have a knife that could cut through anything (according to knife advertising).  But apparently spaghetti squash isn't part of anything.

After about 20 minutes of sawing using two different knives, I was able to get a little more than half way down.  I left the knife in and kept hitting the bottom of the squash on the counter until it separated on its own. 

 

Remove the seeds and pulp, like you would a pumpkin.  Be careful not to remove the flesh yet.  Put both halves in a oven safe dish, flesh side down. Put in the oven at 375 for 30 minutes.  After removing, let cool for a bit because you'll need to pick it up.  Use a fork to pull the meat out.  It comes out in strings (hence the name), so once you figure out which way the strings run, run your fork parallel to that to get the longest strings possible.  There's a lot of meat in there so make sure you get all of it!

You can use the meat as you would spaghetti.  A popular option is just butter.  Or spaghetti sauce.  I have a yummy recipe for the meat that I'll post shortly.