November 21st, 2004, 8:36 pm

Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Tomatoes

When Ms. Cazh and LauraFries.com get together for indie date night, the rules are simple. No meat, just veggie lovin’. Check this super easy, super fab sauce, on figure conscious fauxghetti. Responsible eatin’ never tasted so good.

Keep on reading for the recipe…

SQUASH IT

Aiight, this is simple. Buy a spaghetti squash — no substitutions, please. Slice in half, scoop out the seeds (like it was a pumpkin), then place cut-side down on a baking sheet, lined with foil. Pop it into an oven at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. When it’s done, it’ll be bright yellow inside, feel squishy on the outside (use some mitts, people, that shit is hot), and the insides will easily turn into faux-spaghetti strands when you run a fork through it. Honest!

SAUCE IT

At the same time you’re baking the squash, bake your sauce. Slice up a healthy selection of red and orange tomatoes. Add half a diced onion, some torn fresh basil (can’t chop basil, it’ll turn brown), and some slivered garlic. Toss it all with olive oil, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, making sure to coat the basil with oil so it doesn’t brown. This all goes on a baking sheet too … lined with foil … on the top rack of the oven, whilst your squash does it’s thing.

Leave. Forget about it. Come back in twenty minutes, check it out. I personally like to meddle, so I tossed my tomatoes around a little bit to prevent them from burning. (Literally, I just pulled the baking sheet out of the oven for a sec, gave the mixture a stir, and threw it back in.) When your squash is done, most likely your sauce will be too. If you like, chop it up, mush it together, or leave it as is for a chunkier sauce.

Plate up some squash, pour sauce over it, and garnish with more torn basil and freshly grated parmesan. (Please, none of that green can stuff, they aren’t even related.) This is literally so, so, so good — one of my favorites. And ya’ll know how much this carnivore loves her sausage. One word of warning — the squash will make enough fauxghetti for eighteen people. But it seems to keep in the fridge pretty well — I’ve been eating it for a week.