Three Cheese Spaghetti Squash Casserole

I love spaghetti squash.  I love italian food.  So when I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it!

I cooked the spaghetti squash in the microwave. 

The recipe said not to handle it for 10 minutes after I cooked it in the microwave for 12 minutes.  So I cooked this, set it aside, tidied up the kitchen, and then started the rest of the recipe.  I thought that would be plenty of time but it was still too hot to hold!

I could only find little zucchini's at the store so I used four little ones, instead of 2. 

After just a few minutes of cooking with the garlic and nothing else, the zucchini softened nicely and brightened up.

While the zucchini cooked I measured out the cheese blend, ricotta, parmesan, dried oregano & fresh basil - yum!

Once the zucchini was done I mixed it in with the cheese mix.

 



After all of that I started on the spaghetti squash.  As I mentioned it was still too hot to handle for very long.  But by bracing it against the edge of the pan I was able to get the flesh out.

I didn't get as much out as I could have but it was hot!  Given that the recipe didn't specify a baking dish size but it said that it was only 6 servings I figured a 8x11" pan would be big enough.

I salted the spaghetti squash pretty heavily after putting it in the pan. Then I mixed it up and smoothed it out again.  Next I topped it with the cheese/zucchini mix, dumped the spaghetti sauce on it and topped it with some sliced mozzeralla cheese.

At this point I was wishing I'd used a 9x13" pan.  Instead I just put some aluminum foil under the dish so when it bubbled over (which it did) it didn't make a mess in my oven.

Thirty minutes later it was done.

I liked the flavor but the dish was pretty soupy.  I don't know if I'd put it in a 13x9 if more of the marinara sauce would have thickened up more.  But if/when I make this again I'll use a 13x9" pan and I'll replace the sliced cheese with grated cheese.

Like I said - it's soupy, but really tasty.  I also think it didn't need as much marinara sauce either, so I might use less than a can next time, as well.