Spaghetti Squash Primavera (from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives)

When I wrote about my first weekly meal planner, I decided that on Monday I would make a dish that I saw on Guy Fieri’s Food Network tv show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives: Spaghetti Squash Primavera from the New York restaurant The Pit Stop.

Fieri and I have a complicated relationship. While I don’t love Fieri’s own restaurant Johnny Garlic’s (Chili’s or Applebee’s-quality food for exorbitant prices), I do love his funny, casual, California-esque style (my family has lived all over California, and I did some graduate work in Northern California). I also love Fieri’s show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and seeing the different hole-in the-wall restaurants he visits across the country.  (Photo from Northeast Flavor, a New England Wine and Food magazine).

While watching DD&D, I spotted a really healthy and easy-to-make entrée being presented on his episode at the Pit Stop Restaurant. The owner and chef essentially made spaghetti–using spaghetti squash as the “pasta”–and then baked the spaghetti in the squash shell with buffalo mozzarella on top. Sounds hearty, healthy, and delicious, right? Because I am still in the process of figuring out my blog (and didn’t think about featuring some of the recipes of my weekly planner), I don’t have any pictures. But here’s what it sort of looks like, from the Taste of Home that made something similar, but without the ooey-gooey Mozzarella (which definitely should be included):

I love that the dinner is served in a spaghetti squash. Neat and fun to eat! And like Barbara recommended to me in her comments on my weekly food planner, some meals will have leftovers! This is definitely one of those meals. I ate this (with my partner) for dinner and then two lunches, and we even noticed the spaghetti tasted better every day (as the sauce and spices married). An inexpensive, healthy meal that can be eaten for days? Why not?! The only changes we made to this meal were to add Turkey Pepperoni for some light flavor and meat  and to use a jarred spaghetti sauce as a base (rather than a can of stewed tomatoes). You could add sausage, ground turkey, ground beef, or even keep this a vegetarian meal!  Happy cooking!

Spaghetti Squash Primavera

1 spaghetti squash

1/2 cut up head of broccoli

2 chopped carrots

1/3 chopped red or green bell pepper

1 chopped zucchini

1 minced garlic clove

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1/2 jar of spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup fresh basil

1/2 package of buffalo mozzarella, sliced

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Turkey Pepperoni or ground meat (optional)

Olive oil

Cookie sheet, large sauce pan

Directions:

Rinse and then cut spaghetti squash in half. Boil in large sauce pan filled with water (or chicken broth) for 15 minutes til cooked. Take out the squash, and put aside and let cool.

In a large sauce pan, fry with olive oil the onions and garlic, and then add the rest of the vegetables. Cook until almost done (still a little firm). Add the Parmesan,  half of the fresh basil, and the spaghetti sauce, and turkey pepperoni, and let cook for 3 minutes.

Now, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and scrape the seeds out of the spaghetti squash and discard. With a fork, scoop out the strands of spaghetti squash and add to the sauce and vegetables. Mix well. You now have your “spaghetti”. If you need more sauce and basil, add more (it depends on how much spaghetti squash you have!)

Place the two spaghetti squash shells on a cookie sheet. Spoon the spaghetti into the shells, and place the sliced Mozzarella on top. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is somewhat browned. Take out from oven, and let cool for a few minutes. Enjoy!

(Picture from In Pursuit of my Inner Pinup, a cooking blog!)

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