Spaghetti squash is very versatile, delicious and fun to eat. I would not say it can replace spaghetti because if you are craving spaghetti, eating spaghetti squash will not satisfy you but it’s a light vegetable that can be prepared like spaghetti, so you just have to use your imagination. It would be a quick dish to prepare if you didn’t have to cook the squash.

The trick is to not over cook the squash or it will get mushy and soft and produce water, so the texture will be difficult to handle. The fun part of eating spaghetti squash is to work with the stringy texture, so I recommend to not overcook it.

I used express polenta that cooks in a few minutes, it will save you a lot of time. Regular polenta takes hours to cook so when using it as a element in a dish instead like this one instead of being the main focus of a dish, I use express polenta. Usually the quantity is 4 tbs per person for 1/4 liter liquid. since we are using it as a cake in this recipe, I used less.

Ingredients for 2-3

For the polenta

• 2 cups (or 1/2 liter) vegetable broth
• herbes de Provence
• 8 tbs express polenta

For the spaghetti squash

• 1 small spaghetti squash cut in half lengthwise, wrapped in foil
• 300 g extra firm tofu finely diced
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 onion finely chopped
• 2 heirloom tomatoes, seeds removed, peeled and chopped
• 2 zucchini diced
• 1 small red bell pepper diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• piment d’Espelette
• 1 tbs chives, chopped

Preparation

For the polenta

In a pot, bring broth to a boil. Add herbes de Provence, then add polenta gradually. Stir constantly until thick and homogeneous. Remove from heat. Spread on a wooden board and make it 1.5 cm thick. let it cool to make it solid. When solid, cut rounds with a rind (that you will use to mount that little “tower” shape).

For the spaghetti squash

Preheat oven to 400F. Wrap the squash in foil. Bake in the oven for about 45 min until cooked but still firm to the touch.

In a pan, heat olive oil. Add tofu and cook tofu on all sides until golden. Remove from pan and set aside. In the same pan, add extra olive oil. Add onion and let it soften. Add all vegetables, garlic and piment d’Espelette. Adjust with salt and pepper. Cover and let cook at medium heat until tomato has reduced and vegetables cooked but still firm. Add tofu and chives. Mix well.

Place one polenta cake at the bottom of a plate. Using your rind, add some squash mixture. Add another polenta cake, and more squash. Drizzle some olive oil around and decorate with fresh herbs.

Who said tofu is boring? When you start preparing it like you would prepare meat, it’s the same thing. Meat by itself is boring too in my opinion. The great thing about tofu is that it absorbs all the flavors it is exposed to. So you cook it the same way, you would cook meat, and the problem is solved.

I like to always have two vegetable dishes on my plate, mo matter what I eat, so you can play around with this recipe. I always say recipes are just there to give you ideas, it’s not something rigid, you can modulate them to your tastes.

This recipe is very simple, it would almost be an express dish, if you didn’t have to cook the spaghetti squash which takes quite sometime.

 Ingredients for 2

For the tofu skewers

• 1 extra firm tofu package, drained and cut into 1 inch squares
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 inch ginger pieces, grated
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tbs sake
• 1 tbs coconut sugar
• salt and pepper

For the spaghetti squash

• 1 small spaghetti squash, cut lengthwise
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 3 large king oyster mushrooms, sliced into 1 inch pieces
• 3 large heirloom tomatoes, peeled, seed removed and diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbs dry white wine
• 2 tbs mixed herbs (parsley, basil, chives, etc…)
• Salt and pepper

For the dandelions greens

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• chili flakes
• 1 bunch dandelions, cut into 1.5 inches
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the tofu

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except tofu. Mix well, then add tofu, coat it with marinade and let marinate for about 2 hours in the refrigerator.

Grill on a skillet until golden brown.

For the Spaghetti squash

Cut the spaghetti squash lengthwise. Wrap it in aluminum foil, making sure that it’s sealed and no air is going through the wrap. Bake in the oven at 390F for about 45 min. Remove from the oven, unwrap and remove seeds. With a fork carefully detach the spaghetti from the skin and place in a container.

Heat olive oil in a pan and add shallots. When shallot are soft, add mushrooms. Stir well. Add tomatoes, garlic and wine. Adjust with salt and pepper. Cook until water evaporates from tomatoes and tomatoes thicken. Add mixed herbs at the end.

Add spaghetti squash to the tomato-mushrooms mixture and mix well.

For the dandelions

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add garlic, chili and stir until fragrant. Add dandelions, salt and pepper. Add stir well until wilted.

Serve spaghetti squash, add tofu skewers on top and dandelions all around. Drizzle with olive oil and eat hot.

Crushing these gorgeous baby artichokes into a pesto broke my heart. I have always wanted to make artichoke pesto but never really managed to turn the artichokes into a paste. They’re so cute and delicious as hearts that really putting them through a mixer, is something I hate to do. Today, I got the courage to do it. Here, we got something different and quite delicious. Honestly, I am not sure I will have the courage to to this again. I simply love to bite into an artichoke heart, I love the crunchy bite, it’s that simple. You could use this pesto on pasta of course, or as a sauce for grilled meats…or even to spread it on some country bread.

When you’re eating spaghetti squash prepared this way, you almost forgot, it’s not pasta. I undercooked the squash to get a crunchy bite, to get the “al dente” feeling. I loved this pesto. Now for the vegan crowd, you can omit the parmesan and add more walnuts. I use very little parmesan to enhance this pesto a tiny bit. You don’t want to add too much cheese either and overpower the natural delicious flavor of the artichokes.

This pesto tends to be lighter than regular basil/pine nuts pesto, its texture is more dense too, so I added a few tablespoons of water to make it creamier.

I am flying tomorrow for France, to go see my father who had a stroke last December, so I will try to post a few local recipes, in the meantime, have a nice and colorful June.

Ingredients for 2 as a main course

• 1 large spaghetti squash
• 1 lb artichokes, trimmed and cleaned
• 1/2 cup parsley
• 1/2 cup basil
• 2 tbs raw unsalted walnuts
• 1 garlic clove, crushed + 1 chopped
• 2 tbs parmesan (optional)
• 3 tbs olive oil
• water
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cut the squash lengthwise, wrap in parchment paper and cook in a pre-heated oven at 400F for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Remove seeds first, then the spaghetti pulp. Set aside and keep warm. Save eight artichokes quarters for decoration

Heat up a pan, add the crushed garlic, stir and add baby artichokes cut in quarters. Adjust with salt and pepper, add 2 tbs white wine, and cover, decrease heat and let cook until tender. Let it cool.

For the pesto, mix  artichokes with all other ingredients a mixer. Adjust with water if the pesto is too thick.

Add pesto to the spaghetti squash and mix well using your hands, to coat the squash with the pesto. Serve with an extra tablespoon of pesto on top and four artichokes quarters on each plate.

Now I know that this might be a little too much of spaghetti squash in just a couple of days. I was not planning on writing a blog about it, I took the pictures, just in case…then after eating almost all of it by myself, I figured it was definitley blog “worthy” and I have to say it’s my favorite spaghetti squash recipe. I had quite a lot of extra squash left from the pancakes, and certainly did not want to throw anything away. I was taught not to throw food growing up, and I rarely do. I still have some squash left, but I promised I will not write another blog about it.

Vegetable gratin are every French basics. They come in all colors, shapes and form. One thing in common they have cheese in it, actually almost all of them, the real potato gratin, le gratin dauphinois has no cheese in it (although a lot of people do put cheese, but the “purists” will grind their teeth at the though of cheese in gratin dauphinois).

I absolutely love this gratin, and I recommend it to anyone who likes spaghetti squash.

Ingredients for 2

• 300 g cooked squash (approximately)
• 3 riped tomatoes, peeled, seedless and cut in small cubes
• 3 medium size potatoes
• 2 tbs basil chopped
• 2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 onion (optional)*
• 4 tbs Gruyere cheese, grated
• 4 tbs Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbs olive oil

Preparation

Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender but do not overcook them, they will cook more in the oven.

Add a little oil at the bottom of a deep dish, slice potatoes and lay them flat in the dish, add salt and pepper. Add another layer of spaghetti squash using half of the squash. Add garlic, basil thyme, tomatoes and cheeses, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with olive oil. Proceed with another layer of the same ingredients, ending with cheeses at the end.

*You can add onion fondue and add the onions after the potato layer. You have to cook onion at medium heat in olive oil until they’re translucent. Add a tsp of balsamic vinegar.

When you’re done layering the gratin, press firmly with your hand on the surface to remove any air in between the layers. That way, when it’s cooked it will stand and not collapse.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370-375F for 30-40 minutes until the top is golden brown. Serve hot as a side dish or as is with a green salad.

I love galettes, or pancakes, or anything that has vegetables in it and that looks like a flat crêpe. Spaghetti squash is a great vegetable to prepare yet not very popular. You can make so many different dishes and in so many different ways. Besides, its texture and aspect are very interesting. I used to serve this squash as a vegetable dish, in its shell, then I got tired of it, and figured, it can be prepared like zucchini.

Strangely enough, I have never seen it served in any restaurants…I don’t know why it’s not popular among chefs. Now I am wondering if chefs who own restaurants do come up with menus with specialties they really enjoy preparing or if the completely adapt their menus to the tastes of the local population. Probably a combination of both. Nevertheless, I think that especially in America, where people are more open to new flavors and cuisines due to its melting pot of nationalities, people can easily be “trained” to new flavors and concepts. It is more difficult in Europe, especially France and Italy where everyone is still attached to local traditions and cuisines and are two countries with ancient and reputable culinary history.

Those pancakes have little egg and little flour, so as any vegetable pancake, they tend to be a little soft in the middle, this is not a fritter so don’t expect them to have to consistency and texture of a fried dough. One spaghetti squash will be enough to make about 20 pancakes.

Ingredients for 6 pancakes

• 10.6 oz (or 300 g) spaghetti squash (1/3 of a whole squash)
• 1 egg
• 3 -4 tbs flour
• 3 tbs feta cheese
• 2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
• 1/3 tsp chili flakes
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil

Preparation

Start cooking spaghetti squash. Cut in half lenghtwise and wrap in aluminum foil, don’t leave any hole, the foil needs to be well sealed. Cook for about 1h30 min in a 400F pre-heated oven. Check once in a while to see the squash is a little soft but not too soft. If you cook the squash too long, it will be filled of water and you won’t be able to get the spaghetti strands out of it, therefore won’t be able to make those pancakes.

When cooked, remove the seeds, and remove the spaghetti-pulp with a fork. Place in a container.

In another mixing bowl, mix egg with flour, salt and pepper, to form a thick dough, if the dough is too liquid, add flour.

Add chili flakes, oregano, salt and pepper to the squash, mix well. Add egg/flour mixture. Mix with well, and at the end add feta cheese. Mix using tip of your fingers not to break the feta, you want to keep some chunks.

Heat olive oil in a pan, and spoon one large tbs of the mixture in pan. Cook on both sides, at medium size heat. You might need to adjust heat not to burn the outside of the pancakes but still brown them and cook them inside.

Serve hot with a salad, or as a side dish.