I love pasta with a good red sauce, but I’m not a huge fan of the gluten free pastas and I was looking to keep it as healthy as possible. After reading about some recipes using squash (usually spaghetti) I decided to see what I could come up with.
What came out of my efforts was pretty tasty, so I thought I’d share.
Ingredients:
3-4 summer squash
1 can whole peeled tomatoes
1 can crushed tomatoes
2-4 cloves of chopped garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
8 chopped black olives (optional)
3/4 can drained and rinsed Kidney beans
Basil, Thyme, Oregano, and Marjoram to taste
extra virgin olive oil
salt
First in a 2qt sauce pan, add a tbsp of olive oil and stir in garlic. Cook until soft but not brown.
Add whole tomatoes breaking up as you stir them in. Continue cooking over medium low heat for 10 min.
Add crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, spices, salt and pepper, cover and simmer until desired consistency (about 20 minutes)
While your sauce is simmering, it’s time to make our pasta.
Using a vegetable peeler, peal off slices of the squash approximately the width of a wide fettuccine noodle.
A trick is to hold the squash vertically over a bowl and peel down letting the slice fall into the bowl.
Rotate the squash for each slice stopping when you get to the seeds. ( You don’t want slices with seeds as the “noodle” will break down when you cook it).
Next toss the noodles in a nonstick skillet with olive oil and salt over medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until slices are desired texture. I like mine firmer so 3-4 minutes was just about right. Be careful not to over cook the noodles as they will breakdown and lose their texture.
Finally toss squash slices with the red sauce, and serve.
