I didn’t think it was possible to love spaghetti squash any more than I previously did. I won’t lie: the long stretch of hot months between last year’s trip to the pumpkin patch and this year’s was filled with a lot of noodly, marinara-drenched daydreams. I had just two big squashes left over from our most recent trip, and I really wanted to do something special with them (This is sounding more like a creepy woman-vegetable love affair that I’d intended), so when Kirby informed me that our recent Porch Swing Media get-together was to be a potluck, I knew I had to share the noodly love. Enter this Spaghetti Squash Gratin Recipe from Once Upon a Chef, which I decided to call a casserole in light of the fact that it sounds a little more southern.
Cut in half and scooped out. Ignore my wrinkly hand, please.
I decided that baking the squashes would be necessary to complete my spaghetti squash preparation experimentation (I dealt with boiling and microwaving spaghetti squash in early October).
To bake: I got a big (fairly dull, since I’m pretty clumsy) knife and cut my two squashes in half lengthwise. I scooped out all the guts and seeds (paying careful attention to the area just below the stem, where the thin and tricky seeds especially like to hide out) and lay the squashes flat on a cookie sheet. I baked them in a 350° oven for somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour, until the hard-ish flesh was easily punctured with a fork.
While the squashes were baking I mixed up the old reliable Best Spaghetti Sauce Ever recipe, going extra heavy on the basil and parsley and adding a couple of bay leaves and around 1/2 tsp. thyme. The longer this simmers the better, so I just let it do its thing the entire time the squash was in the oven.
I accidentally broke one of them; I guess I don't know my own strength.
Once the squashes had cooled (This part is important! Baked spaghetti squash halves are heavy, unruly, and HOT) I scooped the “noodles” out into a baking dish and dumped the spaghetti sauce on top (don’t forget to remove the bay leaves!). I found that tossing everything together with tongs worked well. I then sprinkled a cup of grated parmesan cheese on top, and topped that with a mixture of 1 T unsalted butter, melted, and 1/2 C breadcrumbs (Once Upon a Chef recommends Panko, but all I used the regular kind as that’s all I had and they seemed to work out fine). All this went into a 425° oven for 25 to 35 minutes.
What can't be improved by covering it in cheese and breadcrumbs and baking it?
If you ever have the problem of uncooked bits of spaghetti squash, this recipe is an easy way to combat that. Furthermore, it’s a lot easier to just scoop out and heat up than squash and sauce cooked and stored separately. I brought home what I didn’t eat on Sunday night at the PSM potluck (there was so much good food there, so I had a lot of casserole left), and I’ve been eating it for lunch and dinner all week. I’m studying like mad for the GRE this week, which I’m scheduled to take on Friday, so it’s been really nice to have this big tray of awesome sitting in the fridge and requiring very minimal preparation. As soon as I can get my hands on some more spaghetti squash, I will definitely be making this again.
