How do you cook spaghetti squash?

Recently, I've found myself answering questions from my friends and family about how to cook different foods or enhance recipes.  I LOVE this because I love sharing my love of food and cooking with others (heck, it is why I started this blog!)  So, I decided to take these questions and make blog entries out of them.

To start, the question I got a couple weeks ago from my friends in Boston... how do you cook a spaghetti squash?  As is often the case, I had been asked a question I did not know the answer to.  And as is often the case, I replied that I didn't know but would find out!

I had been wanting to try cooking a spaghetti squash for a long time.  When I first heard of this vegetable that bears the same name as one of my favorite foods, I was totally intrigued.  I actually looking through the grocery store vegetable section, trying to find something that resembled uncooked pasta.  Needless to say, I couldn't find it :)   Once I finally got my hands around a spaghetti squash, I was determined to cook one and see how it went. 

The photo journal of my experience is below...

To my surprise, spaghetti squash looks nothing like spaghetti

I was told to cut in half lengthwise (which was actually a little difficult) and remove the seeds.  When I cut it in 1/2 it immediately smelled like pumpkin.  Yum!

  

As I removed the seeds with a spoon, I already started to realize where the "spaghetti" term came in to the title.

I roasted in a 350 degree oven (face down) for ~40 minutes and when I took it out of the oven, I started scraping the squash with a fork.  It immediately shredded.  Fun!

I continued to shred.  And shred... and shred...

And voila!  A bowl of spaghetti squash!

 

As this experiment was merely to figure out how to cook the mystery vegetable, I actually didn't season it at all.  I have been eating this throughout the week with a hearty vegetable spaghetti sauce I made the same day.  I am looking forward to seasoning this the next time I cook it and actually build flavor around and into the spaghetti squash!  Let me know if you have any favorite recipes or methods of cooking my new fun favorite veggie-- I'm open to suggestions!

Recipe Recap:
How to Cook a Spaghetti Squash

Need: 1 spaghetti squash & 45 minutes

1. Cut in 1/2 lengthwise and remove seeds with a spoon

2. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick spray

3. Roast face-down in a 350 degree oven for around 40-45 minutes

4. Let cool, then take a fork to the squash, begin to shred.
5. Enjoy!