Occasionally when I’m testing and retesting and reretesting and rereretesting (you get the drift) a recipe, well, even if it’s great, we’ll get really sick of it. I mean, night after night of the same thing? Not necessarily fun. This is not one of those recipes.
White Pizza Spaghetti Squash. It took a few tries to get it just right. A few delicious, delicious, happy tries.
I swear, very time I eat spaghetti squash, I love it more. I want to do all kinds of things to it. All kinds of things. Preparation-wise, people! Man, did things just get weird or what?
I tried coming up with a few other stuffed spaghetti squash recipes this fall, and I have to admit they were pretty much flops. Macaroni and cheese stuffed spaghetti squash, anyone? Yeah, you don’t want that. It was just strange – at least, the way I dreamed it should maybe be.
This one though, this one was a win from the get go. I just needed to tweak it to make it just right. More fresh basil? Yes. Bread crumb topping? Yes yes. Just as good with part-skim ricotta? Yep. A little less mozzarella? Actually yes.
White Pizza Stuffed Spaghetti Squash. Even over and over, a definite yes.
What makes it really work is the ricotta filling stuffed in the bottom there. You know, the cheesy, garlicky, basily ricotta? Right there at the bottom? Yeah, you can’t really see it, I guess. But dig in, friends. You’ll see it then, and you’ll taste it, and you’ll be so happy it’s there.
First, you bake your squash in the oven. Then you scrape the gorgeous spaghetti-like strands out, leaving only the shells behind. And then you fill each shell with a little ricotta filling.
Next, pile that spaghetti squash back in there. Then sprinkle on a little more mozzarella, and some bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese, and a little drizzle of olive oil.
Bake until it gets all melty and golden, and life is good.
Less calories than white pizza, but all the flavor. And with no crust, you’re looking at considerably less carbs, too. Though I’ve gotta say I think these are pretty dynamite with pizza-dough breadsticks served alongside, so, there goes that.
These bad boys will be my veggie main dish of choice for Thanksgiving. They’ll make the meat-eaters happy as a side dish, meanwhile, I’ll hug mine close, thinking quietly, “Suckers! You go ahead and fill up on turkey. I know where it’s really at.”
Not really.
Okay, maybe a little.