FLOWER POT KITCHEN: PALEO SPAGHETTI SQUASH WITH CHILLI OIL AND GARLIC

15 May 2014

PALEO SPAGHETTI SQUASH WITH CHILLI OIL AND GARLIC

Outstanding versatile spaghetti squash, what a great vegetable, if I was blindfolded I may have be forgiven for thinking I was eating a new style of pasta!!! Rubbed with a hint of oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, then baked in the oven for around 1hr 20 minutes this squash will give you the freedom to have spaghetti bolognese or carbonara while remaining gluten & grain free. This squash is so versatile not only will it act as your pasta you can also stuff the centre with meatballs mariana, chilli beef, mushroom stroganoff or any pasta sauce of your choice. This is a winner winner paleo dinner.

INGREDIENTS

(serves 2)

1 spaghetti squash

50ml olive or avocado oil

sea salt & black pepper

FOR THE SAUCE

300ml olive or avocado oil

6 cloves garlic fine chopped

4 fresh chillies fine sliced

sea salt

fresh ground black pepper

50g Parmesan cheese (optional)

I can not source these squashes locally as I live in a village in the uk, so for me I have to grown my own which makes me so happy, but makes these truly seasonal, which I do love, but it also means I only have a 6 month window to gorge stuff and satisfy my greed and enjoy these gorgeous squashes with my favourite pasta sauces.

To roast/bake just cut your squash in half and scoop out the seeds, then drizzle with a little oil and season with salt and pepper, turn over and pop in the oven for 1hr to 1hr-20mins,

For the best cooking results cook the oiled a seasoned squashed face down on a sheet of tin foil, this gives you the very best seasoned and steamed moist spaghetti squash results that you can use as a pasta substitute.

Once you have baked your squash, take the oil, garlic and chilli add to a saucepan and just slowly warm up, don't over heat or the garlic and oil will burn and be bitter, so keep below a simmer, then when ready to serve, take the spaghetti squash and fluff up the spaghetti filling in the skin or scoop out and pile high on a plate and drizzle over the gorgeous simple olive or avocado oil, garlic and chillii sauce. If I am feeling naughty I will dress this with a few shavings of fresh Parmesan cheese...

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.