Spaghetti-Squash : Gluten-Free Pasta

[by Mike] I wrote a Gluten-Free Recipes series here on the Gluten-Free Blog last year entitled "Garden-to-Plate", where I featured all sorts of homegrown vegetables grown right here in our organic garden. Some of those recipes included things like:

• a very versatile tomato, onion, peppers, basil, and garlic "base" recipe that we use for many additional recipes
• Zucchini, White Squash, Onion, Garlic, Basil recipe - fast and tasty
• Eggplant recipe featuring caramelized garlic, onion, basil, and some hot pepper flakes
• Pumpkin-Tomato Soup Recipe (using our versatile tomato-base above)
• A "recipe" of sorts: a recipe for a bio-diverse yard and garden
  

and now...

2009 Brings Spaghetti Squash to the Garden


Oh, how I love fresh Spaghetti squash, covered with all sorts of other fresh vegetables from the gluten-free garden! This simple recipe starts with baking a Spaghetti squash while simultaneously pan-searing some fresh zucchini, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and a bit of basil in some olive oil.

The spaghetti squash is cooked "al dente" (leaving the fibers in the squash just ever so slightly "crisp" or "firm" yet - versus overcooking), which makes for a wonderful texture just like a great "real" pasta cooked to perfection. In fact, I tried this gluten-free spaghetti squash with just olive oil and some fresh ground black-pepper (prior to topping with the tomato / zuchini sauce), and it was wonderful even served that simple.

I highly recommend these squash, and if you can not grow them where you live, hopefully you can find them at the grocery store. We are grateful to be able to grow them ourselves, especially given that (in the off-season for sure) they tend to be rather over-priced at the store. This year, we have already harvested 4 of these nice gluten-free diet products, with each being about 10 or 12-inches long by perhaps 5 or 6 inches in diameter.

Now, the only down-side to things is that we must soon leave our old organic gluten-free garden behind as we move, permanently, to our new house that has the much larger gluten-free farming area with it. Our old house has sold now (closes this week), and that means we have a LOT of work to do at the new property to get the garden ready for 2010 larger-scale production. That new "farm" will definitely include spaghetti-squash, as we have already saved and dried some seeds from the squash featured in the pictures here -- ready to plant next year. Oh how I look forward to planting an ever-increasing variety of Celiac-safe vegetables, fruits, and perhaps even grains (e.g., Millet, Teff, etc.)... if only my body keeps up with my ambition!

Looking Forward...
Nick should be back soon writing a few more wheat-free and gluten-free product reviews in the coming week once he finishes up some other business he had to take care of. I know he has a large lineup of commercial products to taste-test and share an opinion about.

And, once my wife and I are fully situated at the new house, we should have some later-season garden treats to feature on the Gluten-Free Blog in addition to other product reviews. We were lucky enough to have had the chance to plant some garden items at both locations this year, so we have plenty of squash, sunflowers, cucumbers, and even a few tomatoes at the new house that should keep us cooking up healthy dinners there... and recipes/suggestions for online too.