That's What Bob's Cooking: October 2014

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Lasagna Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

I have been a little quiet over the past few months, but know this….I have been cooking. A few duds, and a few repeats, but nothing blog worthy. (and work has been kicking my butt!!)

Until tonight. Tonight I decided to make Spaghetti Squash Lasagna. While I came across this in a mindless night on Pinterest…I would love to give credit where credit is due, but I mashed up so many recipes, I’m not sure who to give credit to, so I guess I’ll take it!!

With most dishes, I run the risk of my reviewers….well, ok, my husband. I usually get an “it’s good”, or “eeeh….you don’t need to make this again.” Tonight’s dish was a “wow, this is really good”. So you know that you should try making this.

So with a review like that…you’ll want to make this one!

**Side note: I used the smallest Spaghetti Squashes I have ever seen, and it still had enough squash mixture to make a 8x8 casserole.

Lasagna-Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Makes 4 very generous servings

5 pounds spaghetti squash (2 medium-sized squash)

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced

2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound ground turkey

1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided

1 (15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

2 cups ricotta, whole or 2%

1/4 cup roughly chopped parsley

16 oz shredded mozzarella, divided

Chopped parsley or basil, to garnish

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the squashes in half and scoop out the seeds. Lay them cut-side down in a roasting pan or other baking dish, and add about an inch of water. Roast for 45 to 60 minutes, until soft when poked with a fork. Transfer to a cooling rack until cool enough to handle. (I did this the day before, chilled, and scraped when they were cool)

While the squash is roasting, warm the olive oil in a high-sided skillet or saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the onions and cook until translucent, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add the ground beef and 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook until well-browned, breaking up the ground turkey into small crumbles, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Continue simmering the sauce until the squashes are ready, 5 to 20 minutes. Taste the sauce and add more salt if desired.

Use a fork to shred the inside of the squash, down to the shell. Mix the shredded squash into the tomato meat sauce. In a separate bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, mozzarella and the parsley and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Wipe out the roasting pan and arrange the squash shells inside, like bowls. Divide half of the ricotta mixture between the shells, using a spoon to spread the ricotta evenly over the bottom of the shells. Divide half the tomato sauce between the shells, spooning over top of the ricotta. Top with another layer of ricotta and tomato sauce.

→ At this point, the shells can be covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours. Add an extra 10 minutes to the cooking time.

Bake the shells for 15 minutes at 400°F. Sprinkle the mozzarella over the tops of the squashes and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and browned in spots. (For a more golden top, run the squashes under the broiler for a minute or two.)

Sprinkle parsley or basil over the tops and serve immediately. Leftovers will keep for 1 week in the fridge.

Recipe Notes

Casserole Version: Instead of stuffing the squash shells, this can be baked casserole-style in an 2-quart (8x8-inch) baking dish. Layer 1/3 of the tomato sauce into the dish, followed by 1/2 the ricotta and another 1/3 of the sauce. Top with the remaining ricotta and the tomato sauce. Bake for 15 minutes, then sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until bubbly. (I made this and froze it until I’m ready to make a quick dinner….truth be told, the neighbors are on vacation, so I used their freezer, and left instructions on how to cook.)

My Complete Profile

I was born and raised on the East side of Portland Oregon, by two native and second generation, Oregonians, my Mom and Dad (Jack and Joan). Oregon, and the Northwest are deep in my blood. That being said, I have always had an interest in cooking. I would love to add a warm loving story here about how my Mom nurtured my love of cooking by setting me up on or near the counter top to help with whatever she was cooking. Well, that's not exactly the case.

Being a child of the 70's and 80's, I had a great exposure to classic foods like Spam, Tang, Rice-a-Roni and Hamburger Helper. While many of these premade, sodium roller coaster, treats where regulars on our table, my Mom would have to hold the title as "casserole queen". Casseroles are her favorite and her specialty. Whereas, my Dad was more of a spur of the moment kind of cook. His creations included many of the items from our makeshift pantry. Sometimes, i think he was thinking, "the more ingredients, the better it'll be!". I think my first attempt at cooking would have to have been making cookies, either peanut butter (with the criss-cross fork tine print on top), or chocolate chip cookies. Over the years I have made so many of both of these recipes, I have surely lost count.

During middle school, my Mom encouraged me to take Home Economics, thinking that all kids, boy or girl, should know how to cook out in this world. This sparked a growing interest in cooking. So when I entered my junior year of High School, at David Douglas, I enrolled in the culinary arts program, we called it Food Services I. This was a class that had been offered many years before, where the students ran a restaurant, The Kilt, during the lunch periods. Unfortunately, since the class had not been offered in several years, so we didn’t have enough students to open the restaurant, that year. Within the first few weeks of this class, my instructor asked if I'd like to be involved in an outside "club" (kind of like a version of Eagle Scouts) that was mentored by local business owners. It sounded interesting so I joined (not to mention it got me out of the first 2 periods of the day).

At our first meeting I was approached by Sylvia Poesdel, the owner of the Portland landmark restaurant, Sylvia's Italian Restaurant & Dinner Theatre. She asked me if I would be interested in an afterschool job, coming to work for her to learn the cooking/chef trade on the job. I jumped at the chance and started in October of 1985. During my senior year I rejoined the culinary arts program (Food Services II) and this year we were able to reopened the restaurant, which the rest of the students voted me to manage. I just absolutely loved it! I worked at Sylvia's until after I graduated, in 1989. I learned a lot about the restaurant industry, and I would have to say it would be one of just a few life altering jobs I have had throughout my career.

After high school, while I was working at Sylvia's, I applied to culinary arts school. The Two things kept me from continuing my career in culinary arts, were financial and having worked out in the field, I saw so many negative attributes to being a chef, I decided that since I love to cook, I wanted it to be a hobby, and not a drag to go work each day.

When I left Sylvia's, I worked at a hotel, then Safeway. From there I joined Fred Meyer in the Service Deli, and was quickly promoted to a manager. During the next 8 years, I worked throughout the Portland and Southern Oregon areas. In 1998, I earned a promotion to the regional specialist position (District Manager) in Seattle. During this career move, I learned so much about the Food Service industry. I was charged to develop a new service salad case program, as well as work on a new catering program. I had the opportunity to work with manufacturers to develop these new programs.

In 2000, I met the love of my life, Craig. I also, moved from the food service program to the grocery department as an assistant manager. In the capacity I learned to develop my management skills as well as managing inventory. By being the best in my category, I earned the position of manager, where I moved from store to store cleaning up and reorganizing as I went. I also was entrusted with training future Food managers for the region. At which point I was pursued by another company to run a store for them, and enter back into the restaurant industry. During these 3 years, I learned the Restaurant Supplier side of the business. While I enjoyed the time I spent in this opportunity, I yearned to go back to the Grocery industry, and spend more time with my first love, cooking, and writing about my adventures….in the kitchen!