Total Time: 30 minutes Serves: 4
Recipe From: Martha Rose Shulman
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling, or other oil
- 1 head garlic
- 3/4 pound ground spicy Italian chicken sausage or ground chicken
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 1 can (28 ounce) crushed San Marzano tomatoes
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 medium spaghetti squash, halved and seeds removed
- 1/2 cup whole milk or heavy cream
- 1/4 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 1/8 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg, or dried
- 1 1/2 cups shredded fontina cheese or mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup shredded provolone cheese
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- fresh thyme and or fried sage leaves, for serving, optional
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Slice off the top portion of the garlic head to expose some of the cloves. Place the garlic on a piece of foil. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and wrap in foil. Transfer to the oven and roast until cloves are lightly browned and tender, about 20 minutes. Let cool, then squeeze the garlic out into a bowl. Mash the cloves with a fork.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the chicken sausage and brown all over, about 5-8 min. Add onion and cook 2 min. Reduce heat to low, add tomatoes, 1 cup water, bay leaf, oregano, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 min/until the sauce thickens slightly. Remove the bay leaf, stir in the roasted garlic. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
- Meanwhile, poke a few holes into the squash with a fork and place on a plate. Microwave 3 min. Let cool slightly, then cut in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and discard.
- In a medium bowl, mix together milk, ricotta cheese, nutmeg, and basil. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in 1 cup fontina cheese and 1/2 cup provolone cheese.
- Place the squash in a baking dish and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle remaining fontina cheese into bottom of each squash, then evenly divide meat sauce among the squash cavities. Now spoon the milk/cheese mix over the meat sauce. Top with remaining provolone cheese. Cover squash loosely with foil. Transfer to oven and bake 20 min. Remove the foil and continue baking another 15-20 min/until squash is tender and cheese is golden brown. The squash will seem a little soupy, this is OK. Let the squash sit 5 min, then use a fork to scrape squash into strands, mixing the meat and cheese with the squash. Serve topped with thyme and sage.