Shrimp Puttanesca with Spaghetti Squash and Artichokes

Spaghetti Squash. You'd think it would be completely logical to turn it into something resembling spaghetti, but only since the boom of social media did I realize that was a Thing. I have never in fact eaten a spaghetti squash before, let alone cooked one, but who am I to deny an experiment - or for that matter, produce offering itself at a dollar a pound?

 The inspiration for this came from a rather bad experience at an Italian restaurant - I really don't understand why Italian restaurants are generally the more expensive ones when a box of pasta costs 89 cents. $20 to slap some sauce on it, really? Anyway, this restaurant shall go unnamed (can you see my halo?) but it makes so much more sense to cook Italian food yourself when you can do it cheaper and just as well, and it's really pretty easy as long as you have the right herbs. Also, I tend to find pasta boring, so the vegetable version was more appealing anyway.

Ingredients:
1 large spaghetti squash, cut into 1/2" rings
Salt
1/2 lb shrimp
3 tomatoes, chopped, or handful of cherry/grape tomatoes, halved
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
15-20 Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
3 TBS capers
1/4 to 1/3 cup garlic and herb oil (see below)
Grated Parmesan  cheese (optional - I skipped this)

Garlic and herb oil:
Into a small dish, combine 4 cloves of garlic, minced or grated, 1 TBS onion powder, 1 TBS dry parsley, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp dry oregano, a pinch of cracked pepper, and a few red pepper flakes. Add 1 TBS water, mix, and let sit 5 minutes. Measure 3/4 cup pure olive oil (not virgin or extra virgin) into a fluid measuring cup, and add the herb mix. Stir well to combine. (You can do this while the squash is baking)

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 and spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray. Lay the squash rings down, give them another spritz of cooking spray and sprinkle some salt on top. Bake about 30 minutes, turning over once half-way through. Remove from oven and retrain yourself from grabbing them until cool enough to not get burned.

Here's the messy part: Use a fork to scoop the stringy flesh from the skin. The skin is tough but not thick, and you should be able to fairly easily pull all of the flesh away. If you have a quarter inch of flesh stuck to the skin, pop them back in the oven for a few more minutes.

Put a blob of your garlic and herb oil into a medium saucepan (2 quart-ish) and add shrimp. Cook until pink. Turn heat to the lowest possible setting. Add your "spaghetti," tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olives, capers, and enough oil to coat. Toss gently to avoid busting tomatoes - the goal is just to mix and warm everything, not cook. Serve with cheese if desired, or another drizzle of oil.