One of our favorite casual dinners that Mark and I enjoyed the first and last night in Woodstock, New York was spaghetti squash eggplant marinara pasta. As soon as I got home I had to recreate a version.
Spaghetti Squash Eggplant Pasta
One of our favorite casual dinners that Mark and I enjoyed the first and last night in Woodstock, New York was spaghetti squash eggplant marinara. As soon as I got home I had to recreate a version.
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 425. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut the stem off of the squash and slice it lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. Place the halves flesh down right next to each other on the baking sheet, leaving some room for the eggplant to fit on the same sheet. Fork the top of the skin a few times to pierce it.
- In a mixing bowl, add the 1" cubes of eggplant. Add a drizzle of avocado or olive oil, some sea salt, and ground pepper. Toss with your hands and pour the mixture on the baking sheet. It's okay if it's piled high next to the squash and not flat. It will help it not get so mushy.
- Add sheet to oven and bake for 30 minutes for a larger squash and start checking at 20 minutes if it’s a small squash. You don’t want to over cook it otherwise it gets mushier for noodles.
- Meanwhile, heat up a jar of pasta sauce on the stovetop. Add in some roughly chopped garlic cloves and any other additions you may like. I add 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp dried thyme, a few dashes cayenne, and some ground pepper.
- I use a Wonder Oven to dry out and toast lentils a bit for this dish. It takes 5 minutes to preheat to 350 and 10 minutes to toast. I do 5 minutes, flip them a bit and do 5 more minutes. However, if you don’t have a toaster oven and want your lentils toasted a bit, add them to a small lined baking sheet and stick in the oven the last 5 minutes of the squash baking. Check them when you take out the squash. You might want them in another 5 minutes.
- Once the squash is out of the oven, turn them over and let them cool for 5 minutes before shredding lengthwise with a fork. I usually stick the eggplant back in the oven while the squash cools for that 5 minutes so it's extra hot.
- Prepare individual serving bowls immediately. Add the noodles on the bottom, then some chunks of eggplant, then some toasted lentils, and then a good amount of sauce. We like this dish extra saucy. Top with optional fresh basil. Mark likes his with a little Cocojune coconut yogurt as well. It reminds him of the Turkish pasta on the blog. See video reel for visuals in blog post. Take the time to sit down and really enjoy the meal.
Notes
Wonder Oven I use
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