Hey All,  Here is a simple pasta dish that you can make on a fall evening when you want to get warm.  I am just sitting in the airport waiting to fly home this morning and so far so good from a flight perspective.  Timing is a little bit tight so I wanted to go back to a post from almost 3 years ago that is a great dish to make as the leaves change and the temperature begins to cool down.

In looking back at this dish there is something missing… Can you guess what it is?  Protein!  Yes.  So to make these an even better balanced dish, I would recommend maybe some shrimp or chicken as well.  Either or will work but I really think some grilled or pan seared shrimp with a hint of chili pepper and lime would be a super match.  Such a match that I am kind of licking my lips at 6:45 am.  Strange I know… but True!

Comfort food…

This is a very rustic dish packed with a great flavor and texture combination.

Feel free to add your favorite vegetables for this dish; there is really no limit as to what you could add for variety.

Ingredients

• Organic Spaghetti
• 1 Acorn Squash
• 1 Medium White Onion
• 2 Tomatoes
• 1 Cup Maple Syrup
• 1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
• 1 Clove Garlic (crushed)
• 1 Tsp. Black Pepper
• 1 Tsp. Salt
• 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

Method

Sauce

1. In a medium sauce pan add a touch of olive oil and saute the garlic.
2. Cook gently for 4 minutes, then add maple syrup and soy sauce and bring to a boil.
3. Let reduce for 10 minutes on simmer.

Vegetables and Pasta

1. Preheat oven to 400 Degrees F.
2. Prepare acorn squash and white onion and cut into small chunks, place on lined cookie sheet.



3. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper.
4. Bake for 20 minutes.



5. Add tomatoes to cookie sheet.



6. Baste vegetables with the sauce at this point.
7. Bake an additional 10 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and peel squash.
9. Cook spaghetti as per directions (reserve 2 Tablespoons of pasta water).
10. Once cooked, add pasta back to the cooking pot, toss in the vegetables, pour over the sauce and reserved water.
11. Mix gently.

 

12. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: If at anytime you find your sauces to thin or runny, add a slurry to thicken the sauce.  A slurry is a tablespoon of cornstarch or flour to 2 tablespoons of luke warm water.  Mix that together without any lumps and add it to the sauce.  bring the sauce to a boil and watch it thicken.  adjust amounts of starch and water based on the quantity of sauce.

What is your favorite side dish to eat with pasta? Mine has to be fresh bread of any kind.  Park me in front of this plate with a slab of homemade bread and zesty is a happy camper.

Have a great Wednesday and I will chat with you on Friday.

Take care

zesty

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Thursday is here which means that there’s only one more day until Halloween!  Welcome everybody to another silly episode of me trying to write something witty before we get to today’s recipe.  This recipe was inspired by my little guy who is 3 1/2 years old as he was asking if we could have space worms for dinner last night or AKA Spaghetti.  So of course I said yes, anything to get him from eating peanut butter sandwiches or chicken nuggets.

So with that being said, I tend to do my spaghetti sauce in two stages. First stage is to brown the meat and then use the pan drippings to move on to the vegetable and tomatoes.  If you have the time, which is not much longer than opening a can of your favorite spaghetti sauce, give this sauce a try.

My tomato sauce has been tweaked and modified over the years to try and come up with a unique and rich flavour to tantalize everyone’s taste buds. The basis of the sauce stems back to the no nonsense tomato sauce recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 Tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 lb. Lean Ground Beef
• 1/2 lb Lean Ground Pork
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 Tbsp. minced ginger
• 3-5 cloves garlic, crushed and sliced thinly
• 1/2 to 1 cup diced, fresh basil. (It’s your call. I usually use close to a cup)
• 1/2 cup red wine. (Good enough quality to drink)
• 1 Tsp sugar (or Splenda)
• 1/2 Tsp. Salt
• 1/2 Tsp. Cracked Black Pepper
• 1 28 oz. can crushed or diced tomatoes.
• 1 t lemon juice (optional)
• 1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese

Method

1. Cook pasta according to the directions.



2. Add meat and ginger to pan and cook until brown.  Drain excess fat and remove meat from pan.
3. Leave the pan dirty with flavour from the meat and sauté onions in olive oil over low heat, covered, for 10-12 minutes.
4. Add garlic and basil, re-cover, for another 5 minutes or so.
5. Add meat back in the pan.
6. Uncover and add wine. Reduce by about half.
7. Add tomatoes, S & P, and simmer for 15 minutes. You can reduce the sauce further and intensify the flavour.
8. Add the lemon juice about 3-4 minutes before finishing.
9. Fresh Italian Parsley can be added at the end if you like it.
10. Serve over cooked spaghetti.
11. Top with Parmesan Cheese.



12. Enjoy!

Zesty Tip:  When cooking any type of pasta, make sure you salt the water very well.  If not the pasta will be flat and taste very bland.  Also when making sauces, it is an excellent idea when draining your pasta to add a little bit of the pasta water to your sauce.  This will give your sauce an extra layer of flavour.

As for the usual, I would like to know something! What is your favorite drink to serve with a big platter of spaghetti? Also I am trying to reach an individual goal for this post.  I have never had over 60 comments on any post yet in zesty land… so I am asking very politely (of course) for every reader of this post to write a quick little comment and let me know what you think of either the pasta, the site in general or what you drink when you eat spaghetti.  For me I am a big milk fan with my spaghetti!

Thanks everyone and have an awesome Thursday!

Zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty