The Demon Seeds of Spaghetti Squash

Tonight was our first experience working with spaghetti squash. I was home from work before Keith so I got things started. I cut the squash in half and began removing the seeds on the inside. I soon regarded the squash seeds as the work of the devil. Everytime I thought I was done I would suddenly find more. I was suddenly cursing them even more. Out, demon seeds, out! I was about to start throwing holy water but it finally seemed as if they were all out once and for all.

I seasoned the inside with olive oil, salt and pepper and placed them cut side down on an aluminum-foiled pan and popped them in the oven at 450 degrees. The next part will truly reveal my ineptitude in the kitchen. After the squash had baked about 10 minutes, I started doubting what the recipe meant by "flesh side down". Is that the inside or the outer skin? I actually took it out of the oven and turned it over and put it back in. Keith came home and confirmed I was right the first time. No real harm done other than a couple of char marks on the outside skin. I took the squash back out and flipped it again. All told, it was in around 35 minutes. I took it out and let it cool while heating some marinara. We ate a couple of salads in the meantime.

Returning to the squash, we took a fork to scrape out the insides which had the consistency of really thin pasta. We mixed it in with the marinara and it was ready. Topped with parmesan, we dove in. The squash was delicious. It tasted like a really fine pasta. Our friend Annette told us it was a great choice for her as it was gluten-free and that it was tasty with alfredo sauce as well.

Oh, and when we were scraping the squash? Keith says, " There's still seeds in here." Bah. Demon seeds, anyway.