Piece of Cake

What is it about a grey sky and encroaching bathing suit season that makes me crave carbs? Boston isn’t exactly the warmest and sunniest place on earth but I must say we have been pretty lucky this past year as far as weather is concerned – that is, if you consider Marathon Monday reaching nearly 90 degrees ‘lucky’… which I do, because I didn’t run it. Anyway, I haven’t had a ton of chances to use the weather as an excuse to consume massive amounts of comfort foods so here we go! I even provided an ‘artistic’ photo with the grey sky in the background. PROOF.

Once I got it in my head that I wanted some kind of creamy, cheesy, pasta dish, it wasnt long until this little number was born. It was one of those meals that I threw together from things in my fridge (out of laziness) that turned out surprisingly satisfying. I had leftover spaghetti squash (how to cook spaghetti squash) made earlier in the week, and the other ingredients are pretty much always present in my home (ah-hem…pasta and dairy). This dish has the sweetness of the squash, the saltiness of the parmesan, and a smoky background note from the cumin which made it an interesting alternative to your average cream sauce. Plus it’s just an adorable play on words isn’t it? Spaghetti squash with spaghetti? Who would have thought!

SPAGHETTI SQUASH SPAGHETTI

Ingredients

1 teaspoon minced shallot (I used about 1/4 of a shallot)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 chopped scallion

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 cup milk

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup parmesean

pinch of cumin

salt/pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups cooked spaghetti squash (how to cook spaghetti squash)

3 cups cooks spaghetti (or angel hair)

Directions

1. Melt butter with oil in a sauce pan over medium heat.

2. Add shallots and garlic and stir for a minute or two before adding in the scallions.

3. After another minute add the milk and stir to incorporate the butter and oil.

4. Simmer milk for about two minutes, stirring occasionally, then mix in the mozzarella and parmesean cheese and your seasonings.

5. Stir until the sauce thickens a bit, add more parmesean if needed here to thicken more.

6. Incorporate spaghetti squash and let cook for another minute, then add pasta.

7. Mix until pasta and squash are fully coated and serve with more parm!