Summer is in full swing, and we all know what that means..........................tomato season! What, you were expecting a list of things like outdoor concerts, beach visits, vacations, and cool/refreshing beverages? I suppose those are okay too, but there’s just something special about a fresh tomato. What people don’t realize is that the majority of the tomatoes they eat (especially during the winter time) have traveled for a while, and naturally they must be refrigerated as they make the trek to your supermarket. The problem with this is that tomatoes are temperamental travelers. Their optimal flavor and texture are forever lost in this chilly environment. Think about it...they thrive in warmer temperatures for a reason, right?
Obtaining local tomatoes from a farmer’s market or CSA box (which is where I got these from) will lead to the discovery that while the grocery store offers a somewhat decent tomato, there is a far more amazing world of tomato-ey possibilities out there. Excited yet? You should be.
Sure, you could just take some tomatoes and top them with salt, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar...and maybe some herbs...and some feta or fresh mozzarella. You know, something kind of simple, like this:
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you want to really bring out the flavor in a preparation like this, put the salt on the cut up tomatoes first and let it sit for 5-10 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients. The salt pulls the moisture out of the tomato, which effectively concentrates the flavor and makes a great tomato an out of this world tomato.
That preparation is all fine and good, and honestly a lot of my consumption of tomatoes is in the form of a tomato salad of some variety. It’s difficult to beat it in terms of simplicity and overall flavor, but if you had to have just one tomato recipe that was the most versatile and delicious, it would have to be a chunky tomato sauce. It can go on just about anything (eggplant, pasta, okra, green beans, squash, etc) and is an extremely healthy sauce as well. Spaghetti squash really isn’t in its prime season, but I was sort of craving it and there were some small ones at the farmer's market, so that’s what I decided to pair the sauce with this time.
The best idea for roasting the squash is to turn the oven up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and while it’s heating up, cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Drizzle the cut side with olive oil, salt, and pepper and place it cut side up on a sheet pan. It seems like most people add water to a pan and put the squash face down, but you’re sacrificing texture by steaming the thing instead of actually roasting it. Not only that, but roasting it this way is faster. Anyhow, prep the sauce ingredients as the oven continues to heat up and by the time your squash is headed into the oven you should have put a dent into all that prep work.
There are a few tricks that can make your life easier. Garlic and onions are often two of the most time-consuming prep ingredients for people, but I’ve got you covered. Check out these videos (one of which includes a helpful kitchen hack which will especially be helpful if you’re doubling this recipe). Enjoy the garlic video world premiere and ignore the nonsense in the middle...I was trying to make sure it was well shaken, not stirred.
If you don’t like skins on your tomatoes, there’s also a kitchen hack for that. Boil some water, cut an “X” shape in the skin of each tomato, and toss them in for about 30 seconds. Remove them to an ice water bath and the skin should easily come off the tomato. I happen to like the skins on my tomatoes, so I skip that step. Seed removal is also optional...again, that doesn’t bother me, but if it bothers you then you can slice around the sides. Now that I’ve talked about this so much, I guess there should probably be a video demonstrating it, huh? (Stay tuned)
There’s also a trick for fresh herbs which involves removing them from the stems easily by pulling down the stem in the opposite direction from which the leaves are growing. Once they’re off the stems, chopping them up finely can be done quite easily using the methods in my knife skills video (watch the last thirty seconds for the fine-chopped herb method).
Anyhow, cut everything up really quickly and toss it all into a saucepan. Red pepper flakes for heat, lemon juice/balsamic vinegar for boosted acidity, herbs for a boost of flavor, garlic/onions for depth of awesomeness (yes, that’s a thing), and olive oil to mellow the whole thing out. No way this can be bad, right? Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn it down to medium or slightly lower heat, cover, and let it do its thing (with an occasional stir) until the squash has cooked for about 35 minutes in the oven.
Give the tomato sauce one last taste to see if it needs more salt/pepper/heat/acid and then start divying it up between the spaghetti squash shells. It should fill them up pretty well.
If you are so inclined, grab a microplane or fine grater of some sort and top the mixture with a very small amount of cheese. Take it easy on that, but give it a little snowing of cheese across the top and put it back in the oven (still on 450) for another 12-15 minutes. This is an easy service and clean-up dish which is contained within the spaghetti squash shell. As mentioned, this sauce can be served with various other accompaniments, so if you’re not a fan of spaghetti squash or have trouble finding it in the store (you shouldn’t), there are plenty of things the sauce will go well with.
What you end up with is an extremely herbaceous, zesty (as spicy as you want, really), and slightly chunky sauce that would likely taste good on a shoe. DISCLAIMER: Do NOT put this sauce on a shoe and eat it...it WILL taste good, but spaghetti squash is a much better delivery method. Although each half of the spaghetti squash is meant to feed one person as a meal, you may want to serve this as a side paired with a piece of grilled meat, in which case this would actually serve about four people fairly easily.
Click here for the printable recipe or visit the recipe page (which also has a printable recipe and a link back to this blog post). Enjoy!
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