Vegivore Eats | Baked Spaghetti Squash

If you're like me and prefer to eat produce grown locally and in season, you run into a sort of complacent boredom with the options somewhere around the 3rd week of the season.  Right now, I'm feeling a little root vegetable/winter squash-d out...and I'm sure my clients are, too...and I'm sure you are, too!  How many roasted; cubed; mashed; pureed veggie medleys can one person eat before craving something different?

This spaghetti squash side dish (using produce from Nicewicz Family Farm, Bolton) is primarily, yes, still a squash.  But bear with me -- not only does it gives the nutrition of beta carotene, folic acid, potassium and vitamin A but also offers that something different you've been after.
Spaghetti squash holds a fun secret: once the heat hits this squash for a relatively short time, the sweet, solid flesh inside is able to be scraped away into long, delicate strands, hence the name spaghetti squash.  An easy stand-in for calorie-heavy pasta dishes, a new-textured side dish instead of the normal mashed potatoes. Tender with the slightest, perfect crunch. 
In this recipe, coriander and caraway lend a nutty citrus taste (slightly reminiscent of parsley), maple syrup provides seasonal sweetness, a squeeze of lime balances the flavors and chopped walnuts give a healthy dose of omegas as well as satisfying, subtle crunch.  Not your every day side dish, easy, pretty, awfully tasty...and different!

BAKED SPAGHETTI SQUASH

feeds 2-3

(1) 2 lb spaghetti squash

1 TBS olive oil

1 TBS fresh-squeezed lime juice

1 TBS maple syrup

1/4 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp caraway seed, ground

3/4 tsp salt, divided

pepper, to taste

1/4 c walnuts, chopped and lightly skillet-toasted

4 scallions, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  

Place the squash, whole and unpeeled, on a baking sheet and slide the whole thing into the oven.  About an hour later -- does the skin give a little when pushed on?  It's done.

Using a sharp knife, slice the squash lengthwise in half.

Now the fun part!  Take a fork and scrape away the flesh into "noodles".*

Add 1/4 tsp salt and let stand 5 minutes.  When cool enough to handle, squeeze out all the excess moisture.  Place back in a bowl, use the fork to "fluff" the strands and set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, maple syrup, coriander, caraway, remaining 1/2 tsp salt and a pinch of pepper.

Pour the mixture over the squash (you may not use all of it), fluff again with fork, add the walnuts, scallions and pepper to taste.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

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* PRO TIP: There is no perfect method to scraping the squash.  My preferred method is to take a fork, stick it in the flesh of one  half and turn it 180 degrees. Repeat all over.

PRO TIP: Spaghetti squashes range in color, from so light a yellow it's almost white, to a medium orange shade.  Choose more colorful varieties for more nutrition (same goes for any fruit or vegetable, for that matter).  A more orange spaghetti squash can offer up to double the beta carotene.

Gluten-Free: The Friendly Toast

What is this amazing dish?
Keep reading & find out!

I had been wanting to go to The Friendly Toast since they opened in Portsmouth, NH with their 24 hour weekend hours, gluten-free options long before it was trendy and rave reviews from the increasing number of my friends who made the trek from greater Boston to eat there.  When they opened a second location at Technology Square in Cambridge, right around the corner from where I used to stay and a regular haunt of mine when I would be visiting the area from overseas for the better part of a decade, I was salivatingly desperate to go.

It took me three years to get there... but it was worth it.  I knew the night before where Bill, his mother Donna, Liberty and I would be going for lunch after an appointment in Kendall Square this past Monday.  Walking distance, reasonably priced, gluten-free?  No question.  Plus, Liberty had been asking over a week to go to a restaurant.  While Bill and Donna's food looked and I was told their meals were delicious, they went for glutenous options.  So this is all about the toddler and myself.

Bad news first: despite the incredible lists of bread that The Friendly Toast offers, they no longer have any that is gluten-free.  Fine, I was in the mood for and wanted to try some of their all-day breakfasts anyway.  Additionally, the pumpkin pancakes I had heard so much about were not safe for us to eat.  Not so fine.  Being a big fan of pumpkin anything, I had very much wanted to try those and I'm still unclear why only the batter for those pancakes requires wheat.  Still, there was a lot of choice for Liberty and I.  Regular pancakes with only a dollar surcharge for being gluten-free sounded good as did several of the egg dishes about which we were told there would be a discount for not being able to eat the toast that normally comes with it as a side.  See, I ended with good news; I know of nowhere else that takes money off a check for not being able to eat the toast especially when the hash browns are also gluten-free.

Mason, our very friendly (natch) & helpful server, continued to explain using his hands -- as I later discovered, with near-pinpoint accuracy -- the size of the establishment's very large servings.  A single pancake would take up the size of a standard dinner dish up to the edges and although their egg dishes were supposed to be three eggs they usually ended up being more like four to five.  I had a tough time choosing between the Flying Fish Scramble of eggs with smoked salmon, fresh dill and cheddar versus the New Hampshire's Finest containing a scramble with locally-made goat cheese, asparagus, scallions and bacon.  Mason recommended I select the latter.

Vegivore Eats | Bicolor Quinoa Salad (with roasted baby Hubbard squash)

The Hubbard squash is widely considered the largest variety of squash, a hard, blue-gray monster covered in warts and generally not-so-attractive...and intimidating to many when it comes to breaking it down and using it!  Usually these big 'uns are left to ripen on the vine to develop their hard shell, harvested before winter's first frost as large, unwieldy teardrop-shaped pumpkin replacements, but the late summer baby Hubbard squash offered at the farmer's market this week (Flats Mentor Farm, Lancaster, MA) could fit in my hand!  The skin wasn't über-tough yet; the flesh inside was a pale yellow, not yet the brilliant orange color of its adult form, and while the outside doesn't look so pretty -- the inside offers a sweet surprise to those willing to crack through to get in there!*  The Hubbard is the Beauty and the Beast of the squash world, if you will.


First making it to the U.S. (to Marblehead, MA, in fact) in the 1700s, this starchy, flaky and nutty squash variety most likely came from South America, arriving via ships returning from the West Indies, and was cultivated mostly for pies!  While I've never tried this way of eating it, I do find that the best way to cook up a Hubbard, baby or otherwise, is to roast it. This brings out its flavor, simultaneously subtle and strong, and its soft texture.  Using one method or another, get that thing in the oven!
High in vitamins A and C, and low in fat and sodium, the Hubbard plays well with so many different flavors.  In this recipe, with fresh bok choy and purple bell pepper (Dick's Market Garden, Lunenberg, MA), scallion (Hutchins Farm, Concord, MA), some spices, aromatics and quinoa, it becomes a hearty, colorful, Asian-inspired vegan (and gluten-free) entree that tastes of the garden and good health.

Served inside a Hubbard squash blossom (also from Flats Mentor Farm), the edible mama bloom from which the Hubbard grows.

BICOLOR QUINOA SALAD FEAT. HUBBARD SQUASH

feeds 1-2

1 baby Hubbard squash

olive oil, enough for pre-roast drizzling

kosher salt

2 t Chinese Five Spice

1/2c quinoa (any color will do, I used black and white because it's purdy and contrasting)

1 c vegetable broth

2 t sesame oil

1 large scallion, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced into rounds

1-2 cloves garlic, minced (how much do you like garlic?)

1/2" knob of ginger, minced

pinch of red chili flakes

 1/2 bell pepper (any color will do, I used purple), thinly sliced

 1/2lb bok choy, stems set aside for another use and leaves cut chiffonade

1 T tamari

1 t rice vinegar

Preheat your oven to 400. To roast your itty squash, slice it in half, drizzle the cut sides with olive oil, a pinch of kosher salt and sprinkle with the Chinese Five Spice.  Place cut-side down on a baking sheet and roast in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes.  When finished (should be soft and caramelized), set aside to cool and move on to your quinoa for the time being.

Heat a dry, medium-sized pot over medium-high heat.  Add your quinoa and stir now and then for the few minutes until the quinoa starts to "pop" and smell fragrant.  At that time, add your vegetable broth and a pinch of salt.  When it boils, turn the heat to low, cover and simmer about 20-25 minutes.  Take it off the heat at that point and leave covered for about 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork.  Set aside for the time being.

[ Is your squash cool?  Well then cube it up!  Some people eat the skin of winter squash, I always peel mine. Just too tough.  Post-roast is easier than pre. ]

Next, prepare your vegetables, the stir-fry way. Add your sesame oil to a wok (or skillet) and heat over medium-high.  Stirring frequently, add first the scallion and cook a minute.  Then add your garlic, ginger and chili flakes (stir!  stir!  The garlic will burn!).  About 30 seconds later, add the bell pepper.  A minute later, add in the bok choy, give it about 30 seconds, then kill the heat and add in the tamari.

Add your quinoa to the wok/skillet, as well as the Hubbard squash cubes and let it meld together in the residual heat.  Drizzle that eensy bit of rice vinegar over the top, and enjoy.

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*PRO TIP: I was able to use my 5" Nakiri knife to cut in half the little guy I picked out at the market, but to get in to larger varieties, put the thing in a bag and...drop it on the ground!

PRO TIP: buy your spices and quinoa in bulk at your local co-op -- try Harvest (Cambridge and Jamaica Plain)!