I've made this dish several times, after hearing about spaghetti squash on the Food Network. It's an interesting dish.
Spicy Chicken and Spaghetti Squash
Adapted from Fabulous Foods.
1 small spaghetti squash
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup minced onion
3 -4 cloves garlic, minced
12 ounces cooked chicken or turkey meat, shredded
2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
2 1/2 teaspoons fresh oregano
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, more to taste
3 tablespoons Italian parsley, finely chopped
Cut the spaghetti squash in half, remove seeds. Drizzle with olive oil and place face down on a cookie sheet (or similar dish, but don't use stoneware). Season with pepper and place in a 375 degree oven until flesh is tender (appox 1 hour). Shred with fork.
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat, sauté onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Add the chicken or turkey and cook for about 3-4 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for another 5 minutes. Pour sauce over heated spaghetti squash or cooked pasta and serve.
My Thoughts
The original recipe calls for some red wine. I've used it before, but I've also done without, and it seems to work just fine. I use dried herbs instead of fresh ones (at least until I get the motivation to cultivate an indoor herb garden, which will probably be after I move), so just use a small amount of dried herbs in place of fresh ones. I've also used garlic powder in place of minced garlic, so just experiment a little to get it to your tastes. The cooking of the spaghetti squash takes forever, but it produces a lot. Cook the chicken at the same time as the spaghetti squash for a real depth of flavor. I mix in the squash, because it was too difficult to get my sisters to eat it without mixing it in, as it has little flavor on its own. Cooking down the tomato sauce really helps, because it tends to be rather runny otherwise.
I haven't made this with kosher chicken, but I hear that kosher meats tend to be rather salty, so I wouldn't add any additional salt, even to the spaghetti squash when you're baking it.
