We saw a display of spaghetti squash at the store the other day, and it looked good, so we bought one! We normally roast and sautee our spaghetti squash, so we wanted to try something different. To that end, we decided to cook it in a similar style to how we make Rösti or our Crispy Saffron Rice Cakes. We weren’t quite sure how it would work since spaghetti squash is an ingredient with a lot of water, which we feared would prevent it from getting nice and crispy while avoiding sticking to the pan.
In the end, the cakes came out of the pan easily and had a nice golden brown colour and a rich buttery taste. They were not as crispy as we had hoped, but they weren’t mushy either. We think if we’d used some potato starch in addition to the corn starch, the crispiness would have been attainable, so keep that in mind!
We served this with a simple pan fried trout and Shaved Brussels Sprouts. However, we think this would pair well with any buttery fish or as a complement to meatballs (try our Spinach Stuffed Turkey Meatballs) or even a Steak!
Time: 70 Minutes
Ingredients:
- Spaghetti Squash (one medium one is good for two servings)
- Scallion Onions
- Butter
- Salt
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, and line a deep baking dish with a little foil.
- Carefully cut the stem off your squash, and then cut it in half longways. Then scoop out the seeds.
- Pour a little water into your baking pan so that it covers the bottom, and then place your squash flat side down into the pan.
- Roast for about 45 minutes. When you can poke the skin, and it has softened a bit, remove from the oven, and let cool briefly. While your squash roasts, wash, and slice your scallion onions into ribbons.
- Hold one of your squash halves on the rounded side with a heat proof glove or oven mitt, and use a fork to scoop out the strands of squashy goodness into a bowl.
- Mix your scallion ribbons, corn starch, and salt into your bowl, and mash around with your hands to fully combine. You don’t want corn starch lumps in your cakes…trust me.
- Begin to heat your cast iron (we used mini-pans to make individual sized cakes, but you can use a larger one, and form the squash into patties), and melt a good amount of butter in it.
- When the butter stops bubbling and ever so slightly starts to brown, scoop your squash in, and press down. If using a large cast iron pan, form patties, and place in…then press down.
- Cook for about 10 minutes. If you wish and are using large cast iron, you can flip and brown the other side of your cakes. In the pans we chose, this is a lot more difficult, so we just skipped it.
- Extricate your cakes. If using mini-cast iron pans, put your plat atop the pan, and then flip everything over carefully together so the pan is on the plate, Then, when you remove the pan, the cake should stay on the plate.
- Plate, devour, and enjoy!
