Spaghetti Squash with Fried Sage

Last month, for the first time ever, I bought a spaghetti squash and it became my latest food addiction. Spaghetti squash makes a wonderful, very easy, and all vegetable dinner dish. It is very delicate and after cooking, when scrapped with fork, creates spaghetti-like strings. Not only it can make a vegan, low calorie dish but also just with one serving provides a lot of valuable nutrients, such as beta carotene, folic acid, potassium and vitamin A.

Trying to get an opinion on the best way to serve spaghetti squash I looked for different suggestions and recipes. Most of them called for traditional pasta sauces on top. But I find Alfredo or meat ball sauces too heavy for such a delicately tasting vegetable, whose taste should be enhanced by but not lost in the rich topping.

Following this principle, I first made a delicate tomato sauce with shallots and parsley. I used fresh tomatoes which I cooked briefly. The dish turned out to be delicate and quite different than a typical pasta dish. You could still taste squash while tomatoes added extra sourness to the mild taste.

But today, exploring further the potential of the spaghetti squash, I have tried a different idea. I like to use sage for dishes made with squash family vegetables. I did so for gnocchi, pumpkin ravioli, or risotto. So I took a bunch of fresh sage leaves from my herb yard and fried them in butter. I drizzled squash with sage-infused butter and finished with fried sage leaves. I think this combination turned out to be absolutely perfect--a delicate squash, strong sage flavor, and contrasting textures of the soft squash and crispy sage leaves.

Spaghetti Squash with Fried Sage
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash (3-4 lb),
1 bunch of fresh sage,
1 stick of butter,
freshly grounded pepper and salt.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Cut squash in half and using a spoon or an ice-cream scoop remove the seeds.
3. Place halves of squash on a large baking form, skin up. Poke it a couple of times with the fork to pierce the skin.
4. Bake for about 40 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, prepare sage. Melt the butter in a small heavy duty pot, on a high heat. When it starts bubble add sage leaves, turn the heat to medium high and fried until leaves twiddle and turn dark green. Drain the leaves on the paper towel. Reserve the butter.
6. Remove the baked squash from the oven. Turn it flesh up and using a fork scrub the spaghetti-like flesh out.

7. Place the squash spaghetti on a serving plate. Drizzle with butter, finish with sage leaves, and season generously with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Butternut Squash Salad with Herbs--For Tomorrow's Lunch

I had a very different idea for today's post--something sweet for a weekend--but because of heavy rains my local farmers' market was canceled and I could not get good apples for my recipe. And since I like to cook and talk about seasonal food, today it will be about squash.

All I learned about squash--either from others or by experimenting--I did while leaving here in the US. My favorite is still the delicate squash flan which in fact is spicy but delicate in texture and which my guests always enjoy. Recently, I also came up with a nice recipe for pierogi with squash filling. But, since this is a long weekend, you may prefer this is easy salad, especially if it is your turn to make it, rather than kneading a dough for pierogi, which unfortunately are quite difficult and messy to make.

There are many squash salads and I noticed that each year they are becoming more popular and squash is increasingly appreciated as the vegetable that is most rich in vitamin A, for its reputation to lower your cholesterol, and its low-calorie content.

Actually, this salad is quite rich and nutritious and it can make for an entire vegetarian lunch dish. I have never seen a recipe that would be exactly as this one but, like many other squash salads, it includes onion and feta cheese, which spice up the delicate and sweet squash.

Butternut Squash Salad with Herbs
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into cubes,
3 tbsp olive oil,
4-6 shallots, peeled and cut in quarters,
2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar,
2-3 tbsp chopped parsley leaves,
1/2 tbsp. fresh chopped thyme leaves,
1 small garlic, minced,
1/2 cup roasted, chopped walnuts,
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 tsp red chili pepper,
coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Put the squash in a medium bowl. Mix oils and 2 tbsp of vinegar, pour over the squash and rub it in the sauce.

3. Place the squash on a large roasting pan, salt gently but not too much as feta will add extra saltiness, and bake for about 30 minutes until the squash becomes soft and brown and shallots almost caramelized.
4. Remove the squash from the oven, sprinkle with thyme and let it cool.
5. In a small, bowl mix chopped parsley, garlic, walnuts and chili pepper and toss with squash. Divide squash between 4 plates.
6. Drizzle the salad with an extra tbsp of vinegar, sprinkle with feta and pepper, and serve with white breads.

Squash Gnocchi with Fried Sage--Halloween is Coming!

I am getting more and more nervous every day seeing pumpkins popping up everywhere.

When I came to America, almost from the first day, I met new qualities of life, which I embraced right away and forever--almost 300 sunny days a year in DC, smiling people (even though many Europeans may consider that superficial), 24 hour grocery stores and store return policy, the inclusive school system, and the great international diversity within the local community, just to name a few. But there is one aspect of living here that I have never really accepted--the American cuisine with its two main ingredients--the turkey and the pumpkin.

I know that as my son is getting excited about Halloween and pumpkin carving, he will eventually ask if I shared any pumpkin recipes on my blog, which I have not. I have tried a home-made pumpkin pie years ago just to discover that it was not my kind of dessert. Too bland. It could be a comfort food, but only for those who grew up here, I suppose. Back home, we ate pumpkins preserved in vinegar, as meat accompaniment, or in a sweet soup with milk and noodles, which I never liked either.

But I don't want to get in trouble with my American kids and the majority of my readers. Once in a while I try to make something new with pumpkins or their family members, hoping to be able to acquire some of the local taste. In this vein, last July, I made squash gnocchi.

I bought two squashes--acorn and butternut. At that time they were not local for sure. I used them to make the gnocchi and topped them with fried sage from my garden. They turned out to be a great hit. The sweetness of the squash was not overwhelmingly dominant and the crispy and aromatic sage helped to bring out the nuttiness of the squash. Since my family loves pasta and dumplings of any kind, this dish had a great chance to match our taste to begin with, but the result exceeded my expectation as the gnocchi disappeared in the blink of an eye.

We will certainly make them again this fall and again we will not have enough of them, especially that beautiful locally grown acorn and butternut squashes can now be found everywhere.

Squash Gnocchi with Fried Sage
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
1 Acorn and 1 Butternut Squash about 1 pound altogether,
1 1/2 cup flour,
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus extra for garnish,
20 leaves of sage,
1 stick (about 100g) of butter,
salt and freshly ground pepper.

Preparation:

Sage fried in butter
1. Cut sage leaves into strips,
2. Melt butter in a small pan and add sage leaves.
3. Fry the sage until it becomes darker and crispy.

Gnocchi
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Cut squash in slices, remove seeds, and arrange on the well-oiled baking tin.
3. Bake until soft, for about 30-40 min.
4. Cool down, remove skin, and scoop up the flesh.
5. Using an electric blender turn the cooked squash into a purée.
6. Add flour and make a dough. If it is too sticky add a little more flour.
7. Make the dough into a long roll and cut it diagonally into small pieces,1/2 inch long--see picture.

8. Boil a pot of water with 1 tbsp of salt and drop the gnocchi in it.
9. Wait until they rise to the surface and, from that moment, cook them for another 3-4 minutes.
10. Drain the gnocchi on a colander, put them on a plate.
11. Serve them with the fried sage leaves and the butter in which the sage was fried, shredded Parmesan, and freshly ground pepper.