Many, many weeks ago, I noticed a lovely spaghetti squash growing from our neighbor’s garden through the crack of our fence. I’ve been eyeballing it ever since, watching it mature, wondering about its fate. Luckily Matt asked our very friendly neighbor if he wanted to back, and he graciously said it was all ours. Sweet! Now, what to do…

Since I love the concept of spaghetti squash more than I like spaghetti squash itself, I was scouring the internet for anything that inspired me. Then it hit me…what about a marriage of the imposter ‘spaghetti’ with actual spaghetti – well, brown rice spaghetti to make it gluten free and give it a healthy boost. The best part? This recipe has half the starch of a delicious pasta dinner, yet all of the satisfaction.

RECIPE: Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti with Parsley, Parmesan & Chile Oil

• 2 cups of cooked spaghetti squash, warm (cooking methods below)
• 2 cups cooked brown rice spaghetti, warm (break in half before cooking)
• 3 TBSP garlic and chile infused olive oil (see below)
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (reserved 3 TBSP for garnish)
• 3 TBSP freshly chopped Italian flat leaf parsley (reserve 1 tsp for garnish)
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest (optional)
• red chile flakes (for garnish)
• salt and cracked black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS: Pour 1/4 cup olive oil into a small saucepan. Add 2 cloves of smashed garlic and 1/2 tsp red chile flakes. Slowly heat oil until garlic starts to brown. Remove from heat and strain to remove the chiles and garlic (you’ll have more than the recipe requires – store it in the fridge).

Add 3 tablespoons of infused oil and lemon zest to a large bowl. Add brown rice pasta and toss. Add spaghetti squash and toss again. Throw in Parmigiano-Reggiano, parsley, salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper as needed. Serve warm or room temperature; top with a little more cheese, parsley, a few red chile flakes and cracked black pepper. Drizzle with a little more infused olive oil, if desired. Enjoy!

COOKING SPAGHETTI SQUASH: There are a couple ways to cook a spaghetti squash. Usually I roast it in the oven (instructions can be found at the bottom of THIS PAGE >). But for this recipe, I prefer no color at all, and want the squash to remain a little al dente. The fastest means to an end is the microwave. (I almost never use the microwave, but for this, I make an exception.) *Carefully* stab a few holes in the squash with a chef’s knife so the steam can escape. Put the squash in a glass dish and microwave uncovered for 8-10 minutes. Let it rest for 15 minutes or so. Slice the squash in half the long way, scoop out the seeds and then using a folk, scrape out the strands of warm, delicious squash. If you’ve never worked with it before, you find a video tutorial on YouTube.