Spaghetti Squash Ideas

A friend kndly gave me a couple of beautiful Spaghetti Squash the other day- and I was determined to do them justice.
If you've never cooked this intriguing vegetable, I do recommend it. Though they look ordinary from the outside, they are anything but.

Read on to see what I did with mine.

First of all, you need to roast the beast. You can try slicing it first- but I only achieved this by placing it in a woodworking vice and sawing it with a hacksaw!
It's easier to roast it whole in a hot oven for 40 minutes or so, until you can get a knife into it easily.

Roasted until ready to be sliced

Now observe the magic. Slice in half:

Slice in half and scrape out the seeds

Scrape out the seeds ( and save them for re-planting ) and then take a fork and scrape away at the flesh. It will come away in spaghetti-like fronds:

Pull away the 'spaghetti' with a fork

You then have the basis of many different dishes- I chose first a Bolognaise Gratin.

Butter a gratin dish and mix your squash with a Bolognaise Ragout ( you don't need me to tell you how to make a Bol sauce, I'm sure)

Squash and Bolognaise Sauce

Sprinkle the top with grated cheese:

Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake

Bake at 170 degrees until brown and bubbling.

Squash Bolognaise Gratin

The leftovers went well in my Use-it-up Minestrone Soup- with the addition of some more tomato stock, some peas, green onions and orzo pasta.

Add onions, peas, pasta and tomato stock for a
Minestrone Soup

Or fry with some beaten eggs, tomato and cheese for a Bol Frittata:

Squash Bol Frittata

Next bowl of 'spaghetti' went into a Veggie Pad Thai:

Ingredients:

half a spaghetti squash - pulled into fronds

1 egg

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 block of egg noodles

3 spring onions

1 tbsp crunchy veg eg. radishes, peppers, baby corn

Pad Thai sauce- made from 3 tbsp peanut butter, 1 finely sliced chilli, 1 tbsp lime juice, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp mirin ( or sherry )

Chopped cashew nuts for garnish

1. Cook the noodles and drain

2. Stir fry the spring onions and other veg (including the squash) in a wok

Stir fry the veg quickly

3. Mix the egg with the soy sauce 

Whisk the egg and soy sauce in a cup

4. Pour in the egg mixture and cook quickly together with the veg

Add the egg mixture and cook

5. Add the noodles and the Pad Thai sauce

Add the noodles and sauce

6. Wok cook quickly, and serve with chopped cashew nuts on top

Squash Pad Thai

The leftovers made a yummy noodle salad the next day:

Noodle salad

So, we've been to Italy with our Spag Bol Squash, and Thailand with our Pad Thai. Time for a quick trip to India to make Spaghetti Squash Bhajias.

Mix 3 tbsp spaghetti squash fronds with 1 chopped onion, 2 tsp turmeric, a tsp salt and 1 tbsp garam masala ( or curry powder ):

Mix up onion rings, squash and spices

Add 1 tbsp of gram or rice flour ( or plain flour if that's what you have in the store cupboard):

Mix in a tablespoon of flour

Add enough water to make a soft dough:

Dough ready for shaping

Shape into walnut-sized balls:

Dough shaped and ready for frying

Fry in hot oil  ( or you can bake them in the oven for a healthier version) until brown all over:

Fry ( or bake) in hot oil

Serve to accompany your curry, salad or dhal:

Spaghetti Squash Bhajias

Oh..and remember those seeds I scraped out at the beginning? I've washed them, dried them and will be planting them as soon as I can, so as I can grow my own lovely Spaghetti Squash.

'Spaghetti' Seeds for planting

I'll let you know how they do.

Pot-au-Feu

This weekend was our village Pot-au-Feu.

Jean-Jacques- our very own Getafix - set to work with his cauldron making a stew of epic proportions.

Beef, vegetables, herbs and seasoning all went into the pot- to simmer for hours in the traditional way.

The result was pure magic.

Pot-au-feu is a traditional Auvergnat stew made from shin of beef, cheek and other cheaper cuts of stewing beef, cooked in a bouillon of herbs and onions with carrots, potatoes, leeks, turnips, swede and celery. The whole lot is simmered in a sealed pot until the meat is tender. It can then be served either as it is, or in two courses- with the bouillon as a soup to start.

Ingredients: to make Pot-au-Feu for 8

1.5 kg shin of beef, 500g beef cheek,(marrow bone if you can get one) or 500g oxtail

We used 35 kilos!

6 carrots

Our carrot mountain

4 turnips

Tons of Turnips

4 sticks celery, 4 leeks, 4 onions,1-2 small swede, 8 potatoes..

Enough veg boxes to bury a brontosaurus!

4-5 bay leaves, bunch of thyme and parsley chopped roughly
 3 litres water
 plenty of salt and pepper
(to serve- gros sel and mustard)

1. Brown the onions to colour the bouillon, add the water to the pot along with the herbs and seasoning
2. Add the veg (peeled and washed but left whole), and bring to a simmering boil.

Simmer the veg

3. Lightly brown the  meat and add it (again left in large chunks) along with the marrow bone and close the lid.

4. Leave to cook undisturbed for 3 hours.

5. Serve in a dish with a good selection of meat and veg, with salt and mustard for guests to help themselves.

Pot-au-Feu

Not only were 140 people fed that afternoon, but 20 of us volunteer chefs and waiting staff sat down the next day to enjoy 'Les Restes'

Leftover lunch!

And still there was more- litres of bouillon to take home for soups:

Magic bouillon

I am going to use mine with some ravioli poached in it:

Soup with Ravioli

And Tupperware after Tupperware filling my freezer with cooked potatoes for gratins, soups and purees

Parmentier topping

And leftover meat for pies, Parmentiers and ragouts.

Individual Meat Pies

Even the fat that was skimmed from the bouillon went to good use- mixed with bird seed and put out for the hungry garden birds:

Don't forget to feed the birds!

And so, the feast comes to an end- and we feel suitably fortified and ready to face up to any adversity...

just as well as we head back to Brexit-torn and beleagured Britain next week!

Week 43- The Big Christmas Freeze

For once, I'm not talking about the weather! We've got family coming from all over for Christmas (some driving up from the South of France even) so the last thing I want to hear about is snow and ice.

No, I'm talking about filling up your freezer to make life easier during Christmas week- and spreading the cost too. Forget diamonds, at Christmas the freezer is a girl's best friend.



Already, many of the recipes featured on recent blogs have been safely tucked away in the freezer- chicken liver parfaits from last week, celeriac gratin from the week before, melba toasts, mince pies, breadcrumbs for stuffing and bread sauce, crispy wontons for mille feuilles..

Crispy wontons

I've also baked rye bread (to go with the salmon starter on Christmas Day), sliced it and frozen it ready to take out as I need it

Rye bread

and made smoked salmon pate (smoked salmon trimmings blitzed with cream cheese, lemon juice and pepper) for piping into canapes.

This week however I made some extra starters, mains and puddings to have on hand when I need them, as guests arrive: tartelettes a l'indienne, cakes aux olives for starters, a massive ragout with minced beef for making chili, lasagne, spag bol or whatever people feel like, and some chocolate and coffee expresso cups in case people can't manage a Christmas pud on the big day.

For the tartelettes, I lined a twelve hole muffin tray with shortcrust pastry discs, then used some leftover chicken jalfrezi for the filling: the meat I chopped and distributed evenly between the tarts. I then mixed the leftover curry sauce with two beaten eggs and a splash of milk. I poured the mixture into each of the tart cases and cooked the batch in a medium to hot oven (190 degrees) until the pastry was starting to colour and the filling was domed and golden as well as firm to the touch.

Tartelette a l'indienne

( I also experimented with filo pastry roughly laid in two of the muffin holes - and it worked just as well, as you can see above.)

The cake aux olives have featured often on the blog, as they are without doubt my my most popular recipe. If you missed it before- here is how to make them.

Mix 100g of self raising flour, a teaspoon of baking powder, a pinch of salt, 100g of grated flavoursome cheese (mature cheddar, gruyere, emmental), 80 ml of olive oil, 3 beaten eggs, 150 g of chopped olives, 1 pot of natural yoghurt and a splash of milk together in a mixing jug. If the mixture is too stiff, mix in more milk. You are aiming for a thick spoonable cake batter.

Spoon or pour into muffin cases and bake at 200 degrees until risen and golden.

Cakes aux olives

Next, I prepared an enormous batch of beef ragout to go in the freezer. I used the slow cooker to save effort (and let it cook away whilst I'm busy with other stuff.) Soften 2 white onions and a teaspoon of minced garlic in some olive oil, then brown 1 kg of minced beef. Put it all in the slow cooker with 2 cartons of chopped tomatoes (I like the ones with extra olives added), a splash of red wine, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, a good squirt of tomato puree and plenty of salt and pepper. Leave to bubble away for a few hours until rich and thick.

Slow cooker beef ragout

For the puddings, break up 150g of dark chocolate (70% cocoa solid) in a bowl and pour on 90ml of hot strong coffee. Finish the melting process in the microwave for 1 minute and then stir in a tablespoon of rum. Meanwhile separate 3 eggs and beat the whites to the very soft peak stage. When the chocolate has cooled a bit, whisk in the egg yolks and then fold into the whites. Pour the chocolate mixture into little espresso cups, cool and then freeze these in
plastic containers.

Chocolate and coffee pots

Now, like the USS Enterprise, my freezer cannae take much more. 

All I need now is for the guests to arrive - and for the festivities to begin!

Happy holidays!