Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Garlic, Basil and Pasta

Drew runs to Food Basics to pick up some basics and notices a precarious pile of delicious looking spaghetti squash. This particular Basics always has acorn and butternut squash but very rarely the spaghetti variety. On impulse he picks one out and adds it to the basics. Raul has spent all day continuing to perfect his oatmeal cookies - Drew, and the dog, would argue that they are already perfect but he is a perfectionist - so Drew decides to cook dinner. How difficult can spaghetti squash be?

Drew pre-heats the oven to 375 degrees and slice two stigmatic slices into the top of the squash to vent the steam and prevent a potential explosion. A thin layer of oil in a glass baking dish keeps the squash from sticking and into the oven it goes. He has soaked the garlic baker (wrapping in tin foil is just as effective but the moist clay does give the cloves an extra softness) for an hour in a dish of water. He slices the head off a clove of garlic and, being careful to pick out any sizable bits of the top portion and use them as well, puts a large chunk of butter on top of the flat surface created. The lid goes on and the garlic joins the squash in the oven where they both bake for an hour. The house fills with a sweet odour but Raul insists it is leftover from the cookies.

At the one hour mark Drew puts water on to boil for the spaghettini. It will be ready in 15 minutes which should be time to assemble the other ingredients. The squash appears soft and ready so Drew slices it in half and begins picking out the seeds. That is his fatal error. Pulling out the seeds is tedious and not an accurate process. Separating the strands is no more fun, however he perseveres and fills a bowl with strands of squash. A slab of butter, the roasted garlic and some black pepper is added and all stirred together. He drains and adds the spaghettini.

Fresh basil leaves - about a loosely packed cup's worth - from the balcony are added, tossed until they begin to wilt and then plated. A sprinkling of Parmesan cheese is the finishing touch. Raul eats his entire bowl and his only complaint is that, "the timing was off. It took so long to separate the squash strands that my meal was only lukewarm." Heading into the kitchen he discovers the source of the problem. "You fed me pulp! There is tons of squash left here." Turns out that Drew could have scooped out all the centre and then crumbled the remains into spaghetti-like strands. Raul takes over and comes up with a mountain of perfectly formed filaments.

"Well we can have squash again tomorrow," enthuses Drew. "It was delicious and the roasted garlic was sweet and tasty."

"And I'll look after the timing," suggests Raul. "Have a cookie."