Back in the early 2000s, Sully and I did the South Beach Diet for several months. We both lost a lot of weight, mostly because we didn't eat many carbs for that period of time. A substitution for pasta, according to the South Beach way of life, was spaghetti squash. I used to make it every so often, and liked it. Flash forward to this spring. We were planting the garden and Sully bought a spaghetti squash plant because he thought I really liked it (I like it ok, but it wasn't something I ever would have thought about growing). Anyways, little did we both know, the spaghetti squash is an unruly plant that completely takes over. It grew out into our yard, up our deck trellis and every other which way. When it was all said and done, we had 4 large squash and a crazy, cracked-out plant we had to get rid of! But, I digress...
This recipe has a lot of steps, but I added some notes to make it a bit simpler, if you like. You can't get away from roasting the eggplant, but you can buy jarred roasted peppers instead of doing it yourself. This came out great and I did really like the spaghetti squash. I didn't even miss real pasta (and I LOVE pasta). But if you don't want to deal with the squash, by all means, use pasta! I hope you try it, it's really good and doesn't get much healthier than this! Enjoy (and beware of the man-eating vines, if you ever plant spaghetti squash)!
Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Marinara over Spaghetti Squash
Adapted from Rachael Ray
Serves 4
- 2 medium eggplants (or 4 thin, purple Japanese eggplant)
- 1 spaghetti squash, sliced lengthwise and seeds removed
- 1 red bell pepper (or 1-2 jarred roasted red peppers)
- 2 red chile peppers , I used overripe Anaheims from the garden (or 2-3
- jarred Piquillo peppers)
- 1 head garlic
- 1 sprig rosemary, minced
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 1 carton sliced mushrooms
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 28-oz can whole, peeled San Marzano tomatoes, with juice
- 8 basil leaves, chopped
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
Preheat oven to 425. Cut top off of garlic bulb and remove outer skin. Place on a sheet of tinfoil. Drizzle with olive oil and top with rosemary. Fold foil around bulb to form packet and seal tightly. Place in oven. Total cook time with be about 45 minutes (while eggplant is roasting) or until garlic is soft and removes from skin easily.
Cut eggplants in half, lengthwise. Brush cut side with olive oil and place, cut side down, on a baking sheet. Roast for 30-45 minutes, until browned and very soft. When done, set it and garlic aside and cool.
If roasting your own peppers, brush all peppers with olive oil and broil for 3-4 minutes, until skin is charred, and turn with tongs until all sides have been well charred. Remove from oven and let cool.
Place spaghetti squash, cut sides down, on a microwavable plate. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 8-10 minutes, until flesh easily shreds with fork (be careful when unwrapping plastic...the steam is HOT). Shred flesh of squash and put in serving bowl.
While squash is cooking, in a large saucepan, add 1 TBSP olive oil. Sauté mushrooms until brown. Add chicken broth and tomatoes. With a fork or hand potato masher, mash whole tomatoes so they break up a bit (watch out, sometimes they will spit at you!). Let simmer.
While tomatoes are simmering, scoop flesh from eggplant and add to food processor or mini prep. Remove skin, stems and seeds from peppers and add to processor. Scoop garlic from skins and add to processor. Process until smooth (or leave a little chunky, if you like).
Add eggplant mixture to tomatoes. Stir well. Cook for another 10 minutes, until sauce starts to thicken. Add oregano, basil and salt and pepper to taste.
Serve over sauce over spaghetti squash and top with grated Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
Marion loves spaghetti squash too. Look on Epicurious for "jeweled" spaghetti squash...I love it. Anyway, watch out, not only does it like to take over but we have them volunteering year after year in our garden without even planting them.
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