Local cooking with local tunes..

How is it that Sunday night makes an appearance so quickly??  It is time to prep for the week by cooking items such as lentils and beets that I would in no way feel like waiting to cook mid-week.   I was feeling a bit nostalgic tonight so I decided to cook while singing along to some of my favorite local music from back in the day...meaning sometime in the mid-90s when I was in college.  Yes, long before Local Lisa was cooking with farmers market vegetables she was listening to local music and catching local shows at the Paradise.  Today felt like a Tanya Donelly (solo post Belly), Kristin Hersh and Letters to Cleo day.  It used to be so much easier to hear new local sounds when I was a student....now it is an effort and I can only hope to fall into new bands as I did this Summer with the fantastic The Franks and recently with  wonderful singer/song write Abbie Barrett (http://www.facebook.com/abbiebarrettfans)..who will be donating her talents performing for my amazing elders..so "like" and love her!

The question is why am I feeling nostalgic.  I have a feeling that it possibly was instigated by the meal itself.  This may be one of the final meals of the year where I can have so many local items on one dish..it may also be the last time I use beet greens.  Of the actual usable greens, there was more of a bitter bite than I enjoy.  So what was on the menu..squash of course since it is in abundance.  Have you ever cooked and used a spaghetti squash?  If not you have no idea the fun you are missing out on...you cook it and then when it is pulled from the shell it stringy and spaghetti-like.  Since Shermans has been slack on getting any Lily's pasta in..why not use spaghetti squash instead?   Seemed logical...

Easy and healthy...this made for a very filling meal.

Spaghetti Squash with Beets and Greens:

1 spaghetti squash (Kimball Farm)
2 cooked beets (Parker Farm)
beet leaves
2 garlic cloves (Kimball)
Goat Cheese (VT)
1/4 cup walnuts

Place the whole squash into the oven at about 400 degrees and let it cook (30-40 minutes).  When it is done and cool enough to touch cut it in half and clean out the seeds.  Use a fork to scrape out the meat of the squash...it will fall out easily in strands.
In a non-stick pan saute garlic for a few minutes.  Add in greens and let cook for about 2-3 minutes.  I usually blanch the greens, but did not this time.  This late in the season I recommend doing so to take the bitterness out.  Add in cooked beets (I steamed fresh beets earlier) and let them all cook together (5 minutes).  Add walnuts and cook until warm.  Top on "spaghetti" and add goat cheese.

This was really a good dish!  In case you have not noticed..I make a lot of these recipes up and hope for the best..this one worked great!

Be happy and healthy..and shop at the farmers markets while you still can!
~L

Oh and there is a secret ingredient in there...a spice that I have no idea what it is!  I bought it at one point from a bulk bin and only wrote the purchase code on it..I have to made it back to the store and match it up...I will share soon!  It is mild so it will not make much of a difference if it is not used..