How to Prepare and Serve Spaghetti Squash
E. M. Timberlake
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Versatile Veggie Makes Great Pasta Substitute
If you like pasta but don't like the starch and carbohydrates that come with it, now is the perfect time to consider an excellent substitute -- spaghetti squash.
The vine Americans call spaghetti squash (Cucurbita pepo) is native to China, where it is better known as "sharkfin melon" because its flesh also resembles shark meat. Other names for this vegetable inclu
It grows readily in most vegetable or flower garden soils and can also grow in containers. (I once had a spaghetti squash vine spring up "volunteer" in a petunia bed). The squash generally reach maturity about 100 days after flowering, usually in early to mid September. Both male and female flowers usually grow on the same vine, so most vines can pollinate themselves and yield plenty of squash without much intervention.
The squash itself is usually oblong or football-shaped and either white or yellow in color. Like other squashes it is extremely nutritious, with significant amounts of vitamin A, folic acid, and potassium. Eight ounces of spaghetti squash contain only 75 calories - less than the same size serving of real spaghetti. It also makes a good pasta substitute for persons on gluten-free diets.
Like other types of winter squash, spaghetti squash can be baked, boiled or microwaved until the flesh becomes tender and separates easily from the skin. The squash can be cooked whole, sliced open and the seeds and flesh removed hot, or it can be cut up and de-seeded before cooking, depending on one's preference.
Cut-up squash should be microwaved for 6 to 8 minutes, baked rind side up for 30 to 40 minutes at 375 degrees F. or boiled for at least 20 minutes. The squash should be halved or quartered; smaller pieces will yield shorter strands.