We all know the classic autumn fresh fruits & veggies, right? Pumpkin, apples, pecans, brussel sprouts, and my favorite - a variety of squashes. One of my new favorite squashes to experiment with is the spaghetti squash, or as we call it in our house: sketti squash. It's fun to use the stringy innards as a substitute for a carb and dress them up just like you would a pasta. Douse them in pesto or marinara, even an Asian-inspired peanut sauce or curry. For this recipe, I took the experimentation to a whole new level and created what turned out to be something like a sloppy Joe mix! And it was SO good!
I started out with a vegetarian 'chorizo' style sausage I picked up with no idea what I was going to do with it. I cut off the casing, minced it up with my hands, and threw it in the pan with some oil... with still no idea what else to do! I looked around in the fridge and saw: leftover plain sketti squash, olive tapenade, and pre-made pesto. (We'll ignore the other stuff I saw: almond milk, raspberries, my boyfriend's RedBull... don't think those would've gone too well with vegetarian chorizo! ;-) The idea for this recipe immediately came to me and I just went with it! And boy, am I glad I did!
True, this dish was made to be vegetarian, but you could totally make it meat-eater-friendly as well. Simply use regular chorizo sausage instead of the vegetarian kind. Also, you can skip the goat cheese at the end if you want to make this a vegan recipe. You know how I like to give you options and this meal is versatile but still tasty any way you make it! And the leftovers would be great for a true sloppy Joe sami!
OK, let's get sloppy!
Sloppy Spaghetti Squash Pasta
Servings: 2
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons grapeseed oil or extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1/2 vegetarian chorizo sausage link
1 teaspoon fresh sage, minced
1 cup spaghetti squash strands (recipe for preparing the squash here)
1/3 pound brown rice pasta, I used penne
2 tablespoons olive tapenade
2 teaspoons pesto
1/8 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)
Pinch pink Himalayan sea salt
Sprinkle goat cheese crumbles
Start by placing a medium sized pot filled 3/4 with water on the stove over high heat. Bring the water to a boil and add the brown rice pasta. Add a pinch of salt and allow the pasta to cook according to package instructions, usually about ten minutes.
Next, place a large pan on the stove over medium heat. Add the grapeseed oil and allow it to heat up for about a minute.
Then add the chorizo sausage. To get the crumbled effect, slice the casing down the center with a sharp knife, then pull the sausage oil with your hand and crumble it into the pan.
Stir the sausage around with the oil. Then add the spaghetti squash strands.
Stir to combine the sausage with the squash.
Next, add the minced sage leaves and stir once more.
Allow the sausage and squash to cook over medium low heat for about ten minutes, while the pasta finishes cooking.
Once the pasta has finished cooking, remove it from the heat and strain it in the sink using a colander.
Place the pasta back in the pot you cooked it in and add the pesto and olive tapenade. Stir to thoroughly coat the pasta in the sauces.
Turn the heat off on the chorizo/squash mixture and remove the pan from the burner.
Use a large spoon to scoop the pasta onto your serving plate. Top the pasta with the chorizo/squash mixture and sprinkle the top with a spoonful of goat cheese crumbles, if you like.
Serve alongside a nice pumpkin spice beer and enjoy!
Salute!
P.S. It's best if you mix it all together! Yum!
No comments:
Post a Comment