Spaghetti Squash with Feta and Olives Recipe

Sometime in the early 80’s my mother decided that we should become vegetarians, possibly for health reasons or economy, but more likely because we had befriended some very strange people from Georgia (The state not the country, Georgia was still very much part of the USSR). They happened to be Catholic and Hippies? Not sure how that worked out. First time I ever saw a peanut boiler in a kitchen, and the first time I had a spinach quiche, (I don’t know about vegetarians and eggs? What is it with the: “I will only eat boneless baby chickens”? Someone once told me that it was okay because the chicken that laid the egg wasn’t being hurt. Really? Have you ever seen a chicken lay an egg? I thought the morning after Taco Bell was bad, but yeesh…). Where was I, oh, yeah…vegetarian hippies from Georgia…

 

To be honest I really liked them. They had a zip line that went from the second story of their house to the garage. It was a real fun ride, zipping down to the garage at high speed, the wind in your hair, realizing at the last minute that there are no brakes on this thing so what is essentially going to stop you is the impact with the wall of the garage. Smack. And down he goes. 

At least it was raining (continuously, in Scotland the seasons change with the centuries) so the ground was soft, spongier and less ground like. Good times. I also got my first dose of the “Game of life” What a crock…no teen pregnancies? No alcoholic siblings wrecking the car? Where is the excitement?

Well here is a vegetarian and gluten free recipe that reminded me of those very veggie days. 

Ingredients: 

Spaghetti Squash with Feta Black Olives and Basil

1 Spaghetti Squash cut in half seeds removed

1-2 Cloves of garlic

½ cup of feta cheese crumbled

1/3 cup of black or kalamata olives

2-3 Tablespoons of olive oil

2 Tablespoons fresh basil or one teaspoon dried

A little sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

How you do this?

Bake the squash at 350 cut side down for 30 minutes until flesh is easily pierced with at knife, or steam for about the same time in a vegetable steamer.  Remove and set aside to cool slightly. Heat the oil in a skillet and sauté till lightly golden stir in the olives and remove from the heat. Scrape the stringy spaghetti like flesh out of the squash and toss with the garlic and olives, add the cheese, basil and salt and pepper to taste. 

This can be a full meal with a green salad. If you prefer you can use it as a side dish to Greek meatballs with garlicky yogurt sauce, spanikopita, or home made gyros! (They have little gyro kits now, so cool! And soooo cute…little Gyro Kit).