Cooks Like Us: Spaghetti Squash with Meat Sauce

“You’ll-never-use-pasta-again Spaghetti” by The Cooks—Brooke & Bridgette
from Cooks Like Us! Episode 3 - Spaghetti Squash with Meat Sauce

Ingredients

• 1, 2-3 pound Spaghetti Squash
• 1 pound grass-fed Ground Beef
• 1 medium Onion
• 4-5 cloves of Garlic
• ⅛ -1/4 Cup old Red Wine*
• 1 jar organic spaghetti sauce
• Grated Parmesan for garnish
• Chopped Basil for garnish

* Cooking Wine

Tools

• Stove
• Oven
• Oven mitts
• Baking sheet
• Non-non-stick Frying pan
• Metal spatula
• Cutting board
• Med-lg knife
• Med-lg fork
• Med bowl
• Cheese grater

Recipe

Makes 4-6 servings

1. Preheat oven to 325°
2. With a fork, prick the skin of the Spaghetti squash all over
3. Place squash on baking sheet and put in oven for one hour
4. In the meantime, prepare your Meat Sauce
   1. Chop onion width and lengthwise, until the pieces are about the size of a postage stamp**
   2. Peel garlic by using the flat side of a large knife to squash it then easily remove its papery skin**
   3. Chop the garlic into pieces half the size of a postage stamp
   4. Set garlic and onion aside
   5. Heat the empty frying pan on High Heat
   6. Remove meat from package, retaining its original shape
   7. Cut meat horizontally along the sagital plane (cut meat in half, lengthwise) creating two flat patties
   8. Place the two flat pieces of meat in very hot, non-non-stick pan (you should feel heat when you place your palm over the empty frying pan)
   9. Don’t touch meat until it’s very brown, about 5 minutes
   10. Flip pieces over and use spatula or fork to break apart the meat until it crumbles
   11. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes until almost cooked through, a little pink meat is ok at this point.
   12. Remove meat from pan, drain fat if you want to, and set aside
   13. DO NOT scrape the browned bits on the bottom of the pan
   14. Add onions to pan with browned bits from meat stuck on bottom
   15. Add garlic to onions
   16. Deglaze pan:
       1. Add enough wine to coat bottom of pan (stand back, it’s going to steam!)
       2. IF YOU’RE USING A NON-STICK PAN, SKIP THE NEXT STEP (Teflon is bad for you)
       3. If you’re using a non-non-stick pan, immediately use spatula to scrape all the browned bits off the bottom of the pan
       4. Coat garlic and onions with wine and browned bits
       5. Turn heat down to medium low
       6. Cook until onions are translucent
   17. Add meat back to pan
   18. Add jar of favorite spaghetti sauce and turn heat down to low
   19. Simmer for 20 minutes, the longer you simmer the thicker and richer the sauce gets, so simmer to taste
5. Remove Spaghetti Squash from oven
6. Let the squash cool until it’s comfortable to touch
7. Harvest Spaghetti
   1. Cut stem off sqaush and slice down the middle, use an oven mitt, it’s hot
   2. With fork, scoop out seeds**
   3. Starting at one end of squash, use fork to scrape out the flesh, it will come out in strings like, SPAGHETTI!
   4. Place squash spaghetti on plates
8. Spoon meat sauce over squash
9. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and chopped Basil

Leftovers

1. Store squash and sauce separately in air-tight containers
2. When ready to eat, reheat squash in frying pan on medium low
3. Add sauce until heated through

* Remember to save the ends of all your veggies and even the seeds of the spaghetti squash to make stock for future recipes. Store in freezer in plastic bag or tupperware.