Vegetable Spaghetti

My weekly summer share from the local organic farm down the street has been sitting in my fridge, untouched, since Monday. It's Sunday.

This week brought red potatoes, fresh basil and parsley, green onions, 6 wonderfully warty summer squash, a couple of zucchini, 8 gorgeous beefsteak tomatoes, and kohlrabi.

What is kohlrabi you ask? I was wondering just that when I pulled the intimidating sea green vegetable from my basket and observed it questionably. I discovered after googling a recipe it can simply be peeled, cut into strips, and baked with olive oil and generous amounts of seasoning. It has the texture of a potato but tastes exactly like kale. I didn't love it, perhaps because upon biting into the olive oil-soaked fry my conditioned taste buds were expecting a fried potato but instead I got a starchy version of a kale chip. It was an okay tasting, marginally healthier alternative that I will not be making again. So those guys didn't make the cut here.

What I created was an effort to preserve the edibleness of all of those delectable vegetables that have quickly been dying in my fridge for all week. I came up with my take on spaghetti with marinara but instead of tomato sauce I cooked down the sliced tomatoes with seeds still in tact and added some more vegetables. Easy-peesy, healthy, and yummy.

After slicing up the tomatoes and zucchini, chopping the garlic, and throwing the mushrooms in the saute pan with some olive oil, I approached the warty summer squash. I must admit that I have never cooked with this vegetable and had to phone my roommate to ask how to prepare it, who also didn't have a confident answer. I decided that the skin had to come off, and after halving, pitting, and slicing the vegetable I was left with the cutest little orange horseshoes. Although not cute enough to warrant the work of shedding the tough skin from the rest of the squashes, so it was one and done. They also look great in the bowl on my dining table so if they spoil I feel like they still served a purpose.

My introduction to zucchini was not as friendly. Up until now zucchini had only entered my mouth in raw form via salad or baked in a zucchini bread. It wasn't until the vegetable was dehydrating in the pan did the seeds start escaping and I realized that I should have pitted the zucchini as well. Oops. Perhaps the seeds will add texture? No, they will probably be a nuisance.

I added some variety by including a few store-bought veggies. My grocery store was having a BOGO on sliced white mushrooms (yum!) and I also found some frozen spinach in the fridge. Although in retrospect I would hold the spinach, or at least use fresh spinach leaves. The flavor was minimal and the frozen chopped spinach turned the dish from a beautifully bold red to a speckled green. But in the end, the taste was satisfactory. Let's hope that tomorrow's share doesn't bring too many surprises.


4 large tomatoes
1 zucchini
1 summer squash
1 box pre-sliced white mushrooms
2 cloves of chopped garlic
olive oil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon garlic salt
fresh ground pepper
1/3 box spaghetti
3/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese

Put a pot of water on to boil. In another pan, saute the mushrooms in olive oil on medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until brown, stirring occassionally. Remove the mushrooms and set aside. Re-oil the pan and throw in the minced garlic. Stir for 2 minutes before adding the summer squash and the zucchini. Turn heat to medium and continue stirring for 5 minutes. Add the sliced tomatoes and the parsley, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, garlic salt, and fresh ground pepper and stir to combine. Add the mushrooms back into the pot. Cook until the pasta finishes. Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook for 7 minutes. Drain the pasta and drizzle with olive oil. Add the vegetable mixture into the pasta pot and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Dunzo.