Yesterday was just another hamburger day, but the sides made it more than ordinary—roasted spaghetti squash and onion straws. Usually I roast this kind of squash in halves, cut side down in an inch of water for a half hour, then flipped and brushed with melted butter to roast and brown for another half hour. I scoop out the strands of flesh and add a little more butter. Yum. I didn’t see why I couldn’t roast the squash more like other veggies, though, peeled and cut in chunks, tossed with olive oil. And then I had half the sheet pan empty, so I cut three onions into straws and tossed them with olive oil, too. Kind of a lazy person’s version of caramelized onions, without all the stirring—they topped my smashed burgers. I roughly mashed the squash into what I think I’ll call a rustic mash and drizzled over it a little melted butter. 👍 It was definitely a more-than-ordinary burger day.
👉 I used an odd photo filter here—Sparta—and it lives up to its name, making the food look a little spartan. 🤔 In reality, the squash was a little more orange-yellow and the onions white. Use your imagination.
Roasted Spaghetti Squash and Onion Straws
Preheat oven to 350-375º; line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. I often roast vegetables, like potatoes, at a higher temperature, so it’s your call, but I didn’t want the onions to incinerate before the squash was done.
Ingredients
- 1 spaghetti squash
- 2-3 cups finely sliced yellow onions
- olive oil, for roasting
- Optional: melted butter, for serving with squash
Preparation
- Peel the squash, making sure to cut down to the yellow flesh. The outer skin has some long tough fibers that you can see as you peel, but you don’t need to cut off much of the skin.
- Cut the ends off and then cut the squash in half. Scoop out and discard the seeds, or save to roast. Cut the remaining flesh into 1″ cubes.
- Toss in a bowl with olive oil to coat. Spread out on sheet pan. Mine only took up half the pan.
- Peel onions and cut in half lengthwise (basically, you’re cutting the rings in half). Slice the halves thinly and separate with your fingers.
- Toss the onions in a bowl with olive oil to coat. Spread out on the remaining half of the sheet pan.
- Sprinkle all with coarse salt and pepper.
- Roast for about 45 minutes, or until the squash is tender. You can periodically toss the onions to distribute the ones on the edges that are likely to burn, although I expect a little char on roasted vegetables.
- Serve the onions on your burgers.
- Coarsely mash the squash, leaving some chunks. Drizzle some melted butter over the squash for decadence. 😉
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