spaghetti squash noodles with a gluten free bolognese and paleo option

Being on a gluten-free diet Marina is always on the hunt for wheat free alternatives to pasta. Her go to is Zoodles (zucchini noodles). They appear to be the most popular option out there. Recently however she discovered Spaghetti Squash, a relatively little known vegetable here in Australia that appears to be slowly growing in popularity. My mum recently told me that my grandmother used to cook it quite often when I was a kid until it began to disappear off supermarket shelves. It appears to be making somewhat of a comeback.

Spaghetti squash is pale yellow in colour, similar in shape to that of a watermelon and has a very tough outer layer that makes cutting it much like cutting a pumpkin. Once cooked, and as the name suggests, the inside flesh separates into noodles that look exactly like spaghetti. In flavour terms it is very mild and much like zucchini it is great served with a bolognese sauce or ragu. The real benefits of the spaghetti squash is that it is paleo friendly, gluten-free, Whole30 compliant and low in calories. On top of that the kids find the spaghetti making pretty cool and enjoy getting involved!

When it comes to a deliciously rich and flavoursome bolognese sauce we like to use a blend of beef mince, pork mince and some diced pancetta along with a soffrito consisting of onion, carrot, celery, garlic and star anise. The use of star anise in the soffrito cooking stage naturally enhances the flavour of the onions in particular. As well as the passata and tomato paste we add cinnamon, thyme and bay leaves.

It’s at this stage where you can start to add different flavours to the bolognese. You can add Worcester sauce, red wine vinegar, red wine, other spices, the list goes on. Just bear in mind that some of these add-ins such as Worcester contain gluten so if you are gluten-free or on a paleo diet check the labels. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt from Serious Eats is a big advocate of using fish sauce in many forms of cooking and I noticed he uses it in his bolognese sauce. Shitake mushrooms are also a popular add-in. Once you have a good base of meat and soffrito, bolognese is a great sauce to experiment with and make your own.

ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 500g each of beef and pork mince
• 75g pancetta, finely diced
• olive oil
• 2 medium brown onions, finely diced
• 2 medium carrots, finely diced
• 2 celery stalks, finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves
• 700g passata
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 2 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 bay leaves
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme
• salt and pepper
• fresh basil
• parmesan cheese (optional)

directions

for the spaghetti squash

There are a number of ways you can cook spaqhetti squash, we chose to cook ours in the oven. We used a technique from the Eat Within Your Means website. Beth (the author) talks about four possible methods of cooking… oven baked, microwave, slow cooker or pressure cooker. There’s even a handy video showing how to prepare, cut, bake and separate the noodles. You can find the article here –

http://eatwithinyourmeans.com/how-to-cook-spaghetti-squash/

for the bolognese

1. Place a large, heavy-based pan over medium heat and add 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
2. Add the diced pancetta and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
3. Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and star anise to the pan and cook for 15 minutes. Ensure the onions have become soft, slightly golden in colour and the rawness flavour has completely gone. Remove to a bowl.
4. Turn up the heat to high and add 1 tbsp of olive oil. When the oil begins to smoke add one third of the mince. You want to ensure all of the mince is touching the pan to ensure it browns, not stews. If need be cook in four batches.
5. Return the vegetables and mince to the pan and add the passata, tomato paste, stock, cinnamon, bay leaves and salt.
6. Bring to the boil then turn the heat down to very low and simmer, covered for 2 hours. Stir every 15 minutes.
7. At this point you want to check how much liquid is left in the pan. The sauce should be thick with a similar consistency to that of the passata. If needed, turn up the heat to medium and leave uncovered until it has thickened.
8. Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.

From here it’s a matter of building a bed of spaghetti squash, adding the bolognese and topping with fresh basil, cracked pepper and fresh parmesan if you wish.

If you would like to read why Marina chose to be gluten-free you can read her blog post Why I am gluten free and how I learnt to listen to my body here.