Wednesday 8 June 2011

Spaghetti Squash



Amazingly we're still eating through last years squash and last night we had the first of our spaghetti squash. We'd been kind of putting off trying one of these as we weren't quite sure how to cook it, silly really but we had so many other squash to eat these just got put to the back of the queue a tad. Anyway, a bit of research later we took the plunge last night.




First up you wash the squash then prick it a number of times with a fork to stop it exploding when you cook it (although there was a little part of me that did wonder just how explody a squash could be...). Then you pop it in the oven for an hour at 200 degrees till it's cooked through.






When it's done you chop it in half and scoop out the pips etc. Then taking a fork you simply 'fluff' up the inside and it magically falls apart into spaghetti style strands.




Unlike a lot of other squash it doesn't have a very distinct flavour, it's not bland as such but it does need some seasoning and a sauce to improve it. We ate it with the same kind of homemade spicy tomato based sauce we use for pasta dishes and it went really well.


What it lacks in flavour it more than makes up for in character though, in fact we kinda wish we'd grown more of them this year now.

13 comments:

Una Bee said...

Oooh, I've always wanted to try it! It's one of the things on my very long 'If I ever get a plot, I will grow...' list. :)

Jo said...

I've never tried spaghetti squash, it's one of those things which has never really appealed but I might give it a go now.

Sue Garrett said...

Well done on the squash storage for the first time we didn't have much success storing ours last year

LindaG said...

I'd probably end up scraping out half the inside on accident.
Glad you enjoyed it though! :)

Mark N said...

yeah, I'd be interested to hear how you keep them. I guess it depends on the variety but the butternuts we've done in the past haven't lasted more than 3 months.

Paul and Melanie said...

@ Sue and Mark - We aren't terribly scientific with our storage to be honest. We have a small spare bedroom that's kept unheated and it's got a decent sized desk/shelving unit on one wall that's pretty much empty so we just kept all our squash on there. We spaced them out so they weren't touching and kept any eye out for any that went soft but other than that they just seemed to keep on their own.

We've still got one huge butternut squash left, a couple of spaghetti ones and a couple more winter festival too.

RobD said...

Looks interesting, maybe one to give a try next year. How many did you get off each plant?

Paul and Melanie said...

@ RobD - We only had one plant and I think we got 3 off it, we may have thrown one away during the winter tho, so it could be four... Not a fantastic return now I think about it, but worth it I think...

cottage garden farmer said...

Can't beleive you've still got squash from last year, you must have had a great crop. And what keeping qualities they have. Will have to try some. kathy

melsanford said...

Wow! Never heard of this one before! Looks brilliant :-) Love 'n' hugs, Mel xx

Karina.Zhen said...

@ Anil - I am able to see the pictures..

That looks so yummy! How long did it take for you to grow the squash and what temperature would you recommend or did you grow it in? I used to wonder how some restaurants make the spaghetti like squash strands!

Martin and Amy said...

I've thought and thought about growing these, but like you say. What do you do with them!!

Maybe next year...

Martin :)

shannonseibel said...

I love squash, but I have never tried spaghetti squash. Might have to see if I can grow that where I am for next year!