Pesto-No-Pasta

The Ingredients (for two people):

• 1 spaghetti squash, weighing approximately 900 g (2 lb)
• 80 ml (or ⅓ cup) of pesto
• 30 ml (or 2 tablespoons) of olive oil

The Method:

1. Wash the spaghetti squash, dry it, and pierce it a few times on four sides with a carving fork or a sharp knife with a narrow blade.
2. Place the squash on a paper (or cloth) towel in the microwave.
3. Microwave for 5 min on one side; turn the squash over and microwave for 3 to 5 min on the other side.
4. Test the squash in the microwave for doneness by pressing into the lower end of the squash with one finger. When it is soft enough to dent under medium pressure, remove it from the microwave.
5. Place the pesto in a bowl big enough to hold the squash. 
6. Using an oven mitt to hold the squash in place, cut through it lengthwise and lay the halves out.
7. Remove the seeds and accompanying strands of darker flesh from the squash halves using a spoon.
8. Drizzle half of the olive oil into each half of the squash.
9. Using an oven mitt to hold the squash halves, scrape the insides with a fork to release the "spaghetti" strands from the inside of the skin.
10. Stir and separate the strands with the fork to coat them with the olive oil.
11. Use the fork to scrape the strands into the prepared bowl and toss them in the pesto until each strand is lightly coated.

The Story:

I had really never noticed spaghetti squash in stores until pushed to start looking for carbohydrate alternatives. Luckily for me, the first one I saw had a sticker on it, advising the buyer how best to cook it. The advice was to cut the squash in half lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, place the halves cut-side down in a few millimeters of water, and microwave. But the squash is a tough and dense one when raw, and especially if it's not quite ripe. And the cooked vegetable was a bit soggy when it had absorbed some of the water. I Googled for more opinions. One was essentially the method above, although the cooking time was much longer, which overcooked the squash. The only problem with this method is the danger of not piercing the skin in enough places, or not piercing it deeply enough, as I recently found out. I had picked out a slightly underripe spaghetti squash and pierced it with a carving fork all over. On one side of the squash it was difficult to get the tines of the fork to go much deeper than 1 to 2 mm. After 5 minutes in the microwave, bubbles were sizzling out of the holes in the skin. I turned it over, turned on the heat for another 5 minutes, and a couple of minutes later there was a loud pop, the microwave door flew open, and strands and seeds of hot spaghetti squash burst out, decorating everything within five feet of the microwave. We succumbed to eating pasta that night. I only buy very yellow spaghetti squash these days.

An inadequately pierced spaghetti squash