Spaghetti squash - a curcubit with an identity crisis!

My friend from work who also gardens gave me a spaghetti squash to try. I wasn't sure if I wanted to try it, but she really wanted to get rid of it as she had grown (and eaten) so many of them already this summer. It sat on our kitchen bench for a couple of weeks until my curiosity got the better of me. I couldn't believe that a squash could cook up like spaghetti!

My only instructions were to cut it up and boil it until it was soft and then scrape the strands of "spaghetti" out of the skin. A google search reveals that there are a number of other methods, but this seemed pretty simple. We only used half the squash for the first night, and I can report that it has a ridiculously tough skin to cut through, I had to enlist the help of my husband to cut it up! Much like when we make pumpkin soup. I boiled it for about about 15 mins in lightly salted water, and it then became clear that the strands could be scraped from the skin.

Inside the squash, and yes, I saved those seeds!

Boiling the squash (had so upsize the pot to fit it all in)

extracting the "spaghetti"

I have to say it was less like spaghetti than I expected, more like rice noodles in texture, but quite a pleasant taste, not too bitter. We ate the spaghetti squash with bolognaise sauce (because the same friend had given me a massive bag of roma tomatoes in exchange for some pickling cucumbers), topped with some of our very tasty cheese.

My recipe for bolognaise sauce
(its probably not very Bolognaise, but you know what I mean, a mince and tomato sauce....)

cut up as many tomatoes as are available from garden and friends' gardens and cook in a little stock for as long as possible to create a lovely rich base
sauté onion, mushroom, capsicum and garlic in another pan, cook mince
combine all the ingredients in a big pot and add any spare red wine, more stock, any spare herbs like basil, oregano, thyme, chives and parsley, my husband love to add chillis and olives
zuchinni or button squash could also be added here (although it might be curcubit overload)
cook for as long as possible until its lovely and rich (add tomato paste to cheat if you run out of time)
taste the sauce, it may need a little salt or brown sugar depending on the veges
chop up silverbeet/mustard greens/spinach and stir in when its nearly ready
serve with pasta or spaghetti squash :) and a strong cheese on top

Yum:)

Have you tried spaghetti squash? Or any other weird veges?

Farm update - August 2017

Its been cold this month, and very nice to have the fire going every night. Here's a photo of my boy in his cape, great for late night woofing at things. Most of July we were either preparing for the butcher to come or putting meat away. Its always a big job, but its only once a year, and its all done now. My lovely neighbour came over to help, so it was fun to have the company and work together. Taz was a champion once again as she helped us to move cattle in the yards ready to load for the market. Gus is not at that level yet and had to stay home (he cries when he gets left behind, but he just gets in the way and scatters the cattle). We have had a few sprinkles of rain here and there, but also plenty of cold nights, so the grass is mostly dead and dry, waiting for the warmer weather to revive our summer-active pasture. Gus in his cape Taz after she helped to move cattle Food and cooking It was all about beef in July and we are v...

Cooking and eating beans

When I was growing up, my family never ate many dried beans, they just weren't something that was used much in NZ cuisine. If I did eat beans, it was always from a can (and most likely baked beans). And until recently I was still using beans from a can, but it can be difficult to get organic beans, and to find cans not lined with BPA. Then I had an opportunity to buy some organic dry goods in bulk, so I bought 5kg of kidney beans, 5kg of adzuki beans and 5kg of chickpea (garbanzo beans). I know, that is a lot of beans. And then I didn't really know what to do with them! Not just what dishes to put them in, but how to prepare them, I just didn't know what method to use. So I decided it was time to learn how to use all these beans that I bought, here's what I found out. I started with an excellent ebook called The Everything Beans Book , from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship, which has lots of bean recipes, but more importantly, an explanation of h...

Guest post: Is there a place for power tools in the garden?

One of my regular readers and commenters offered to write a guest post about a horticulture course, its quite a funny read, with some serious insights into our technology obsession. If you'd like to submit a guest post, email me at eight.acres.liz {at} gmail.com. While I am always happy to share links back to your blog or website, this contributor preferred to remain anonymous. I hope you enjoy their story.... -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- Just a few days ago our daily horticulture classes were interrupted by an invitation to review some new gardening gadgets. The idea was to open half a dozen of electric hand trimmers , test them and fill in some review about their goods and bads. As nothing is more dear to a student – even a “hort “ one - to escape routine and mess around till lunchtime, we opened the boxes and got down to business. What did we...

Eight Acres

Search This Blog