Saturday, August 14, 2010

Spaghetti Squash

The always entertaining Katie from Eat This! is hosting this edition of Weekend Herb Blogging and this week I've got myself something new to eat - Spaghetti Squash!


spaghetti squash© by Haalo


Considering the amount of produce I manage to get hold of, Spaghetti Squash has proved to be quite an elusive vegetable. It's been most frustrating, especially when I've seen so many Spaghetti Squash recipes featured on Weekend Herb Blogging.

What surprised me most about it was that it was hard like a pumpkin, I'd always imagined it was soft due to the fact that it looks more like a large marrow. I suppose I can put my confusion down to language differences - the term squash here is more likely to apply to soft, zucchini-like vegetables, like these yellow squash.

After reading up on the different ways of cooking the squash, I decided to boil it. As I was a little apprehensive about boiling it whole, I decided to boil only half of it. That means I'll be able to experiment using another method with the other half.

Once cooked, I found that I didn't get those long spaghetti like strands, these looked more like Chinese egg noodles and it's this appearance that lead me to my recipe.

I decided to quickly stir fry my "squash noodles" in a tasty mix of pancetta and leek - the result is a seriously tasty snack!


spaghetti squash with Pancetta and Leeks© by Haalo



Stir-fried Spaghetti Squash with Pancetta and Leek

½ spaghetti squash
1 leek, roughly chopped
pancetta, cut into lardons
salt and white pepper


Prepare the spaghetti squash:
Cut the squash in half lengthways, scrap out the seeds and connecting flesh. Apparently the seeds can be dried and enjoyed like pumpkin seeds.

Place the squash in a pot of simmering water and cook until tender - depending on the size of the squash it can take between 20 and 40 minutes.

Once soft remove from the pot and let it stand until cool enough to handle.

Use a spoon or a fork to scrap out the squash - it will come out in strands.

Complete the dish:

Drizzle a little oil in a pan and when heat, add in the pancetta lardons. Let these sizzle and brown before adding in the chopped leek.
Lower the heat to allow the leek to soften but not yet coloured before increasing the heat and adding in the spaghetti squash strands.
Stir the mixture well and season with salt and pepper to taste - cook until heated through.


spaghetti squash with Pancetta and Leeks© by Haalo

4 comments

  1. wow, that looks super tasty!If you, queen of fresh produce found it difficult to get hold of that spaghetti squash, the rest of us have not a chance!!;)This reminds me that in christmas I whole roasted a butternut squash (I think I read it in "ideas in food" blog) and it was a real surprise, The shape once peeled stood intact and the pulp resembled bright orange strands (I'd never seen it before!) It was more tender, so it did not hold perfectly separate as yours, but it still struck me...so that squash you've introduced us to must be amazing!And on it's own, how's the taste?

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  2. I haven't seen one of these squashes for ages. My Gran used to cook them, this looks like 'as you say' a seriously tasty snack. Yum!

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  3. I’ve read that different types of squash offer protection against cancer, particularly lung cancer and heart disease. This looks very yummy and I agree with the previous comments this looks very tasty I’d love to try it at home I just hope that I can find the kind of squash you used.

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  4. I love the simplicity of this dish. Yum!

    Paz ;-)

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