Recipe: Spaghetti Squash “Lasagna”

I LOVE VEGETABLES! The only vegetables that I don’t like are ones with bitter tastes (bitter melon.. which is from the squash family, I think).. and funky textures (like spongey eggplant.. gross). Other than that (but I’m sure there are more).. I’ll eat all vegetables, at least once. And I love them all different ways: raw, steamed, sauteed, braised, roasted, fried, … you get the picture. Minh LOVES PASTA! He could eat pasta and Mexican food (not together) every day for the rest of his life. Anni loves food, but has that danged Celiac’s. So… imagine my delight a year or so ago when I discovered SPAGHETTI SQUASH!! It’s like a match made in heaven (just like me and Minh… haha.. cheesy). The first time I made spaghetti squash, it was not awesome. We cooked it in the microwave (not knowing how else to quickly steam it), and it ended up a mush. Then, Minh and I had an AWE-MAZING spaghetti squash dish at Haven Gastropub.. and decided that we need to give this vegetable another try.. which is where we get the following..

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna!!!

Spaghetti Squash “Lasagna”
Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

1 medium sized spaghetti squash
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
1 28-oz can stewed tomatoes
1 tsp Italian Season or Herbes de Provence
1 lb mild or hot Italian Sausage
1 med onion, diced
6 oz (or so) sliced salami
12 oz shredded mozarella

Step by Step

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
2. Cut spaghetti squash in half and scoop out seeds and stringy stuff. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Coat the bottom of a foil-lined baking sheet with olive oil. Bake squash, cut side down, until tender (about 40 minutes).
4. Meanwhile, brown meat and onions in a large skillet.
5. Once meat is browned, add stewed tomatoes and seasoning. Simmer until thickened, then remove from heat
6. Once squash is cooked (can be easily pierced by a knife), remove from oven and let cool slight (so you can handle it).
7. With a fork, shred the squash meat into “spaghetti” strands inside the shell.
8. Layer ingredients in a buttered baking dish: Half the spaghetti squash, half the salami, half the meat sauce, half the cheese.. then repeat (2 sets of layers total).
9. Bake in the oven until bubbly and top is brown (about 25 minutes).Let cool slightly before serving.

Here are some (blurry.. sorry) shots of the process…

Roasted and shreded Spaghetti Squash

First layer.. spaghetti squash

Second layer.. salami

Third layer… meat sauce

Fourth layer … cheese… mmmm… gooey…

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna!!!

If you’re like me.. and tend to bake things in small baking dishes (7×11), then you’ll need two.. and only one set of layers will fit into each baking dish. But.. if you’re smart and use a big baking dish (9×13) then it should all fit into one with 2 sets of layers. I ended up making two littles ones, but that worked out will, becuase Minh, Anni and I devoured the first one and a little bit of the second.