I hear some people say that they are intimidated by cutting winter squash in half in order to bake them. I have read that you can microwave winter squash for 5 to 10 minutes, making them easier to cut, then proceed with baking. I had never tried that, so I did.

I poked some holes in the spaghetti squash so it wouldn’t blow up in the microwave.

I microwaved it for a total of 10 minutes. After 5 minutes I turned it over and cooked it another 5 minutes. This is what it looked like after 10 minutes of microwaving. You can see how it is partially cooked, but very raw in the middle. While I was microwaving it I preheated the oven to 400°F. After doing this I am positive it will work with any winter squash.

I scooped out the seeds and added some onions, herbs, salt and pepper. I rubbed all that with olive oil and put it in the 400°F oven for about 35 minutes.

Spaghetti squash are the ultimate in stringy squash. To optimize the stringy ‘spaghettiness’ of the squash you want to dry it out a bit so bake it uncovered, cut side up the whole cooking time.

See the meat of the squash pulling away from the squash shell? That is how you know it’s done.

Discard the herbs if you used them and use a fork to fluff up the squash to make it look like spaghetti. Don’t stir it or smash it. Try to keep it fluffed up.

My very favorite thing to do with spaghetti squash is to cut up one of my last very ripe tomatoes and add a little olive oil, parsley and Parmesan cheese. This dish tells me that summer is well and truly over. What a great goodbye.