Spaghetti squash the easy way!

Oh no, I'm cooking again .....

Gotta admit it. I love spaghetti squash. It's inexpensive to buy, super-easy to grow for yourself, and can be easily prepared several different ways.

First thing you do is choose a squash that is ripe. It should be a uniform yellow. If it is white or greenish-tinged, it's not ripe. If the squash has a lot of brown or black markings, and or the skin is soft enough to be indented by your thumb, it is too ripe and should not be eaten (although the seeds would probably still be good for planting). The one I had was almost too ripe as you can tell from the brown spots on the picture below, but the skin was still hard, so it was OK

Take your ripe squash and rinse it clean. Use a very sharp and long heavy knife to slice it in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and pulp.

If you want, save the seeds for planting in the spring. After they've dried out, roll them around in your hand to separate them from the pulp, and store them in a cool dry place. The seeds can also be roasted like pumpkin seeds for a snack. If you decide to just throw them away, watch where you toss them. I once found a plant growing in a sorta hidden corner my back yard. Not sure how the seed got there. Stuck to my shoe? Bird grabbed it from the trash can and dropped it? I just let it go, though, and harvested several good squash from it that fall. HA!

Place the cleaned out halves face down in a microwave-safe bowl and add about an inch of water.

Nuke it for about 15 minutes on high. Poke the skin with a fork. If the fork easily penetrates the skin, it is done and ready for the next step. If the fork won't go in, or requires some effort, nuke it for a few more minutes and repeat.

Once it is done, use a fork to scoop out the flesh. It will separate into strands that look very much like fine spaghetti, hence the name. CAUTION: it will be very hot, so be careful handling it.

Once you have all the flesh scraped out and all that is left are very thin skins or rinds, you toss the rinds into the garbage or compost bin.

The flesh can be prepared a couple of ways. You can add spaghetti sauce, or a butter-and-garlic sauce, or just about any way you could fix spaghetti. (I have NOT tried to make mac-and-cheese with it, though. I kinda doubt that it would work very well.) My favorite is butter and garlic, with a little salt and pepper.

Bon appetite! 

The squash can also be prepared on the stove, by boiling the halves for 30 to 40 minutes, or by turning the halves face-down in a roasting pan and baking for about 30-45 minutes at 400*. Check for doneness after about 30 minutes.

I think next summer I'm going to try wrapping the halves in foil and baking them in the coals of a camp fire. Yep. Sounds good!

God bless!

Ron and the Debster

Making sauteed venison medallions ... tasty!!!

Well, I never intended on this being a cooking blog, but I seem to be doing a lot of cooking lately, so why not document it? Perhaps someday someone may find these little jottings useful.

Anyway, This is one of the Debster's recipes, and it's pretty darn good! I did the prep work under her supervision, and she did the actual stove work.

Start with a chunk of venison. Any cut is fine; even the tougher pieces turn out OK. Prepping the meat is really the KEY to this dish. Using a very sharp knife slice the venison into medallions about three inches around, give or take. Smaller than the palm of your hand, at any rate. If there are smaller pieces, that's not a problem. The pieces should be no thicker than about a half inch. The thinner the better, especially for tougher cuts.

Once you have them sliced, lightly spritz them with a mixture of half water and half vinegar. Don't soak them, just enough to dampen a little. Sprinkle both sides with either seasoned salt or steak seasoning; this batch we used Lowery's Seasoned Salt.

raw meat ready for the skillet

Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet, and add the meat. Keep the heat relatively low. As the meat begins to brown, add a few pats of butter on top and let it melt into the meat and oil.

sauteing in progress

The meat will cook quickly, about a minute and a half on each side. Thicker slices may take a bit longer. That's it. You're done. 

Finished product. Dig in!

Serve as is as a nice meaty snack, or saute mushrooms with them, and serve over a bed of rice or noodles. The drippings are the basis for an excellent gravy!

God bless y'all!

Ron and the Debster

Venison stew ... Oh boy!!!

Okay. I know it has been a very long time since my last blog post. I'm sorry about that. Things have been more than a little strange the last few months.

Anyway, last week, a friend of ours quite unexpectedly made us a fantastic gift of about fifty pounds of venison. Wow!!!! Trust me, it could NOT have come at a better time.

So, yesterday afternoon I made a mulligan-type stew from one piece of it.

I started with piece of meat, about a half-pound or a bit more, which I cut into small pieces.

About a half-pound of cubed venison

I then took those pieces and dredged them in flour.

Venison dredged in flour

I melted some butter, couple tablespoons maybe, in the bottom of my two-quart pot. (I wasn't making a big batch, but I still should have used a bigger pot.) I then browned the pieces of meat in the butter, stirring and turning constantly until evenly browned.

Floured venison browning in butter

I took a whole onion and a large stick of celery, diced them up finely, and sauteed them in butter until nice and soft. I added them to the pot along with the meat.

I added about a quart of water, two beef bullion cubes, a large pinch of Montreal Steak Seasoning, and about a tablespoon of rendered bacon fat, brought it to a boil, and then slowed it down to a slow simmer for about forty-five minutes.

While the meat was simmering, I took a large handful of fresh green beans, and snapped them into about one inch pieces. I peeled and chopped two large carrots. I also cut up about six very small potatoes. 

Vegetables waiting to be cut up

I then added the pile of veggies to the simmered meat, added a little more water, and brought the pot back to a slow simmer. I let it cook for about another half hour.

I took about a half-cup of broth and mixed it with about a couple heaping spoons of cornstarch, then stirred this thickening agent back into the pot. After a couple of minutes it had thickened up nicely, and was ready to go!

While I was busy with this, the Debster made a pot of bow-tie pasta. The venison stew served over the pasta was absolutely wonderful. I don't know if it was absolutely the best cooking I've ever done, but it comes close, for sure!

Note to self: When oiling my blade* after using it, I must be careful. Failure to do so can result in unplanned blood, fingers held under running water while wife grabs BIG bandaids and antiseptic cream.

As someone I know likes to say, a Mora knife never gets dull. It only gets less sharp.

*The blade is made of high-carbon steel, not stainless steel, and so if it isn't kept oiled, it will rust easily. I normally wipe on a light coat of vegetable oil, or, occasionally, a bit of butter or animal fat.

Cheers! Until the next time,

Ron and the Debster, signing off!