Italian Spaghetti Squash

Italian Spaghetti Squash

I created this recipe from several other favorites - it turned out to be an amazing combination of flavors in a light, Italian way.  All the ingredients of a spaghetti sauce is included, but as separate fresh ingredients, rather than a sauce.  This recipe will pleasantly surprise you!


Italian Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients:
2 lb Spaghetti Squash - (or about 1/2 lb per person)
1 lb Italian Sausage
4 strips of Pepper Bacon, diced before cooking (regular bacon will do, but pepper bacon is better!)
1/2 Sweet Onion (Vidalias, Walla Walla, etc)
3 cloves Garlic, crushed
2 C Spinach
1 Roma Tomato, diced
1/2 Red Bell Pepper
1 small Zucchini
1/2 small Yellow Squash
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1/2 t Basil
1/2 t Thyme
1/2 t Rosemary
1/3 C Ricotta Cheese
3/4 C Mozzarella Cheese
1/3 C Parmesan Cheese
1 T milk, if needed

Directions:
1.  Begin with the Spaghetti Squash - weigh it (maybe in the store when you buy it?) and multiply the weight by 6 minutes/pound.  Place the squash in a microwave-safe bowl; Stab a knife into the squash to allow an escape for steam.  Microwave on high for the appropriate time.  (2 lb squash x 6 minutes/pound = 12 minutes in the microwave).  When the squash is done cooking, cut in half, scoop out the central pulp with seeds (throw these away), then scoop out the squash into a large bowl.  Add butter, salt, & pepper, to taste.

2. While the squash is cooking, cook the meat in a large frying pan.  Cook them separately, sure to drain the grease after each one.  Preserve a tablespoon of the bacon grease to cook the vegetables in!

3. Cook the vegetables, beginning with the spinach.  When it starts to wilt, add the meat back in and all the rest of the other vegetables.  Add the spices, sure to stir everything to a wonderful mix.

4.  In a small bowl, mix the cheeses - use the milk as needed to make it stir-able (much like lasagna cheese).  This is your topping.

5. To serve, you can either
     a) stir it all together & serve in a bowl; or
     b) layer it on a plate - squash, meat & veggies mixture, cheese
either way, it tastes great!

Photos to help explain:

 Use a large knife to cut into the Italian Sausage before you turn it out into a skillet.  This makes it much easier to "crumble" as it cooks that way - you only have to separate the squares, rather than try to separate it into bits while it's cooking.

 I use bacon mostly as an ingredient in other dishes - often as a topping or garnish.  I rarely cook bacon in strips - instead I cut the bacon across the strips (cutting through the packaging and meat at the same time - resulting in needing to keep the package in a Zip-Lock bag.  Once the bacon is in my skillet, it cooks in a "crumbled" form.  Much easier & less mess.








Once the vegetables have been added into the skillet, it becomes a bright, colorful dish that makes me happy!  You don't have to cook the vegetables very long - just a minute of two - until they are hot, but still somewhat firm. 

If you have picky eaters or onion haters in your family, try cooking the onions first, slowly letting them soften and even caramelize a bit.  This is another advantage of sweet onions - they are not as harsh as yellow onions.

If that still doesn't work, run the onion through a food processor until they are mush, then cook as usual - they will blend in and "disappear" so your family can't pick them out.

 Here I used two small spaghetti squash - but one large one works well too.  I use a large bowl to microwave them in, then can use it to hold the squash when I pull it out of the shells.





 Here you see  a cut spaghetti squash and what it looks like after removing the seeds and pulling it out of the shells.

A scraped shell

 Mix the cheeses together with a little milk to make a nice topping - you don't need a lot to get the flavor you want!

 Another way to show the meal is to lay it into the skillet like this - folks can see what the various ingredients are, and it looks pretty.  (However, once we took this picture, we mixed it all together - yummy!)

Be sure to have extras for seconds!  You'll want it, for sure!