Thursday, October 29, 2020

Spaghetti Squash Mac and Cheese

I had some spaghetti squash, and while browsing Pinterest, I found this recipe. I was cut from work tonight, so it was a perfect time to try it out.

Spaghetti Squash Mac and Cheese

Ingredients
Spaghetti Squash:
  • 2 small/medium spaghetti squash about 2 lbs each
  • 1 TBS olive oil
  • ½ tsp garlic salt (or to taste)
  • ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)
Cheese Sauce:
  • 2 TBS butter
  • 2 TBS all-purpose flour* (or gluten-free all-purpose flour, tapioca flour or cornstarch)
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • ¼ tsp garlic powder
  • 1 ½ cups whole milk
  • 2 ½ cups Cabot Shredded Cheddar cheese divided.
Instructions
Roast the spaghetti squash:
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Cut both spaghetti squash in half and remove the seeds (scoop them out with a metal spoon).
  3. Brush the inside with olive oil (or spray with an olive oil spray) and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.
  4. Place cut-side down in a baking dish.
  5. Fill baking dish ¼” with water.
  6. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil.
  7. Bake in the preheated oven for 45-60 minutes or until the squash is soft to the touch (it will compress down when pushed lightly).
  8. Remove from the oven and turn the cut-side to the top.
  9. Let cool.
  10. Use a fork to shred the spaghetti squash, being careful not to poke holes in the shell.
  11. Leave shredded spaghetti squash in the shell while you make the cheese sauce.
Make the cheese sauce:
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. In a small bowl, combine flour sea salt and garlic powder. Set aside.
  3. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
  4. Add dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
  5. Whisk constantly until ingredients just start to brown (about 1-2 minutes).
  6. Add milk and whisk until mixture is smooth.
  7. Continue cooking over medium-high heat until the mixture comes to a boil and starts to thicken (about 3-5 minutes).
  8. Once mixture is thick, add 2 cups of shredded cheese and whisk until the cheese is completely melted.
  9. Once cheese sauce is smooth, remove the saucepan from the heat.
Putting it together:
  1. Distribute cheese sauce evenly among the four halves of shredded spaghetti squash (with the size squashes I had, I used about ½ cup plus 2 TBS of cheese sauce for each of the four halves).
  2. Use a fork to gently stir the cheese sauce into each half of shredded spaghetti squash.
  3. Once the sauce is evenly distributed in the squash, use the fork or a spatula to smooth out the surface of each squash half.
  4. Top with remaining ½ cup of cheese and bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until the cheese on the top is melted and lightly brown.
  5. Serve warm!
Tom wouldn't even try it, shocker! I thought it was okay. There wasn't a whole lot of flavor, but could it be because for cheese I used half gourmet sharp cheddar blend and half provolone?

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