A few months ago, we stumbled across a fantastic little indoor farmer’s market. It’s on the cusp of suburbia with a select variety of foods from local farmers and suppliers at a really low cost. It’s almost ridiculous how cheap it is. We’re talking $0.38 a pound for organic Jazz apples. Granted, you have to be ready to consume the produce quickly since it’s definitely the last stop before becoming compost, and you have to be very discerning about what you put in your basket since some of it should actually BE in the compost heap already. But, hey! Any steps we can take to reducing our family’s toxic exposure and consume organic produce at a super low price is a definite win. And since the indoor farmer’s markets carry seasonal produce, it’s an even bigger win because I can feed my family what our bodies naturally crave during a particular time of year to provide optimal fuel for our immune systems.
I found two spaghetti squash the last time I was there and experimented with how best to prepare them. Confession: I’ve tried making spaghetti squash a few times and always found it to be either crunchy (i.e. underdone) or super watery (i.e. over-steamed). Either way, the squash was pretty flavorless and, well, sad. This time, I decided to infuse the squash with as much flavor as possible and change up my cooking method. And it worked! The new method I tried was something I read about over at Elena’s Pantry. Instead of steaming it, or trying to wrestle and butcher the squash before it’s cooked, you cook it first. Revolutionary, right? Poke holes in the raw squash. Roast it. Cut it. Scoop out the seeds and discard, then scoop out the perfectly cooked squash and consume.
This changes EVERYTHING.
Ingredients:
- 1 largish spaghetti squash
- 3-4 Tbsp brown butter (see below for directions)
- 6-8 fresh sage leaves
- cheese cloth, or double-fine mesh strainer
- S&P to taste
- Using a fork, poke two sets of holes in whole spaghetti squash.
- Place squash on parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 80 minutes.
- While your squash is baking, begin preparing your brown butter. In a small sauce pan, melt 1/2 cup (one stick) of butter on medium-low heat (4 of 10) and allow to simmer slowly.
- When squash is finished baking, cut open lengthwise to make two halves, then scrape out seeds and discard.
- With a fork, scrape out the sqaghetti squash into an oven safe dish. Cut up your sage leaves and sprinkle them over the top of the squash.
- Check on your melted butter. It should start to brown a bit by now, with the solids falling down to the bottom of the pan and turning golden brown. It will also smell amazing. Be careful not to let it burn, which requires watching it fairly closely.
- When your butter is a dark golden brown with a caramely-nutty smell, remove it from heat and filter out the milk solids by pouring the mixture through a cheese cloth or double-fine mesh strainer. You’ll be left with a clear, golden brown butter and a strainer full of brown crunchy milk solids.
- Pour butter over sage and squash, give it a gentle stir, and return to oven and bake for an additional 20 minutes until ridiculously tender, the sage is soft, and the butter is soaked in.
- Remove the squash from the oven. Salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.
You will NOT be disappointed, my friends. Unless you hate butter. But I can’t help that.
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