Let's Squash This Spaghetti Thing Right Now!

Okay, I finally tried out spaghetti squash!  My friend Sherry sent me a link on how to make it, and it seemed very easy.  I won't go into the cooking details, so here's the link she sent:

http://homecooking.about.com/od/vegetablerecipes/ss/spagsquashsbs.htm

At first I thought I'd just toss it in garlic and olive oil to test it out, but all real tests for spaghetti have to include tomato sauce otherwise the results don't count.  It's like testing a running shoe without laces.  So I made a quick and easy marinara sauce by sauteing some garlic, onions, celery, black pepper, basil, oregano, crushed red pepper flakes (all ingredients, all organic, all the time), and then I added the organic strained tomatoes I love (you know the drill, you lazy bastards, look it up in my previous blog about condiments).  It's quick, easy, and delicious, when you don't want to spend all day making a gallon of sauce (or as we called it in Brooklyn, gravy), and then eating it for a week, and freezing the rest.

I also had some skinless boneless chicken breasts in the freezer, so I defrosted a couple, and went about making a cheese-less Chicken Parmesan.  I know, that's an oxymoron, but what are you gonna do?  I thought about doing a mini cheat by adding some organic mozzarella, but I couldn't find anything that was from a grass fed cow, so I skipped it.  I know, I know, sacrilege, but if the sauce and breading is tasty enough, you don't really miss the cheese that much.  Okay, I'm lying, you miss it, but it's still delicious.  Maybe I should call it Chicken Pizzaiola to make it more accurate.  There, you happy?!

To cook the chicken, I pretty much followed my fried chicken recipe (LOOK IT UP!), only instead of making a fried chicken breading, I used Italian spices instead.  Into the ground almonds (a great paleo substitute for bread crumbs) went garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, thyme, oregano, and Italian parsley.  Browned in a pan, finished in the oven, and it's done (here already, now stop bothering me and look it up yourselves: http://cookingcaveman.blogspot.com/2010/08/southern-fried-chicken-and-golden.html)

Okay, I plated the chicken, scraped all the spaghetti squash from the skin, plated it next to the chick, and sauced that sucker.  Here's what it looked like:

Hmm... needs a sprinkle of parsley:

Uh... it still looks a little yellow to me.  Let's give this thing a stir:

Okay... at least now it looks like spaghetti!  But it doesn't taste like spaghetti.  I mean, my zucchini substitute doesn't either, but at least zucchini is the right color.  But much more importantly, when you bite into zucchini, it doesn't CRUNCH!  The squash does.  Not bad like a potato chip, but there's a definite crunch.  I mean there's al dente, and then there's so al dente it crunches.  Not good.  The texture is ALL WRONG!  And I know I cooked it long enough, because I tried to cook some leftovers today to try and soften it up but it still crunches!  My verdict; spaghetti squash can be used as a good ingredient in a side dish, just not one that you're trying to pass off as pasta.  Meanwhile, my Spirooli came in the mail today, so later in the week I'll be making Spaghetti Bolognese with zucchini and I bet it comes off fantastic!  I have an idea how to replace the Marsala wine with caveman friendly substitutes!  Stay tuned.

By the way, the Chicken Pizzaiola was FANTASTIC!  Try it next time instead of Chicken Parmesan if you want something a little healthier.  Or use the almond flour for any breaded chicken recipe, and your body will thank you for it.  Ugga-Bugga!