We usually eat spaghetti squash with just a bit of butter or olive oil, salt, and pepper. This recipe hardly takes more time to prepare, but it turns the squash into a slightly fancier affair. Creamy and savory, it's a good side dish or alternative to pasta.
The recipe below is for a smallish spaghetti squash, about 2 pounds. You can easily adjust the quantities of ingredients depending on the size of your squash. It's a simple recipe, open to adaptation and not requiring absolutely precise measurements.
There is one thing we'll stress, though, and that's the superiority of fresh ricotta. You can easily make your own or look for it at your farmers' market, cheesemonger, or Italian deli. If you have ricotta left over after making this recipe, you might find some inspiration in our Top Five Things to Do with Ricotta.
Spaghetti Squash with Ricotta, Sage, and Pine Nuts
Serves 4
1 small spaghetti squash (about 2 pounds)
3/4 cup ricotta
1 clove garlic, mashed
Olive oil
6-8 fresh sage leaves
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
Preheat oven to 375F.
Pierce the whole squash in several places with a knife or fork, place it in a baking dish, and bake until flesh is tender, about 1 hour.
Remove squash from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a little bit of oil in a small pan. Quickly fry sage leaves until crispy but not burnt. Crumble sage leaves into a large bowl and combine with ricotta and garlic. Set aside.
Cut squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Pull a fork through the flesh to separate and remove the strands from the shell. Add to bowl with ricotta mixture.
Combine squash and ricotta mixture and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle with pine nuts before serving.
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(Image: Emily Ho)
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wow, that sounds tremendous.
I've gotten kind of bored of spaghetti squash, because I only know to make it with olive oil and salt and pepper.
I'll definitely give this a try.
I made this last night. It might be because I only cooked 1/2 a spaghetti squash but it didn't turn out as soft as I thought it would be with this recipe. It was very crunchy and fresh but I thought it would be more savory and creamy like in the photo.
Allijean, I'm sorry to hear that it didn't turn out as expected. It sounds like the squash was undercooked. It should bake until it's tender and easily pierced with a fork or skewer.
Emily:
I had the same problem. I baked a 2.1-pound spaghetti squash for about 70 minutes at 375°. This was my first squash baking, so I didn't know how tender the hard shell needed to be. When I took it out, it seemed tender enough (I could pierce all but the outmost, hardest layer easily with a fork).
But after taking out the seeds and using a fork to get the squash into strands, I tasted some and noticed they were still quite crunchy. I solved this by microwaving the bowl (covered with vented plastic wrap) for several minutes before mixing in the other ingredients. This dried out the squash some, but I added more extra-virgin olive oil, and that helped.
I don't have any reason to believe that my oven is underheating, and since Allijean also had a similar problem, is it possible that your oven is running hot? Or that you didn't mean 375°F? I think I would have needed to bake this 2-pound squash another 15-20 minutes (total of nearly 90 mins) to get it to the point you're describing.
I baked my squash (2lb) for about 80 minutes and it was tender and delish!
Oh dear, I'm sorry that some of you have had problems with this! My oven was exactly 375 and I cross-referenced the time and temp with several other sources. You could cut the squash in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds before baking it. Adding about 1/2 inch of water to the baking dish would also help steam the squash.
I'm in the cut it in half and roast them camp. I haven't tried this recipe yet, as it's still pretty hot in LA, so I don't want to use my oven.
I like to put a little olive oil, salt and pepper inside before roasting them face down on a baking sheet. Some of the ends get a little caramelized, which I'm in favor of. Normally goes about 40-60minutes, maybe a little longer at 350
i made this last night. SO delicious. i just polished off the leftovers for lunch.
i chose a 1.5 lb squash (just for 2 people), cut it in half, scraped out the seeds, little olive oil drizzle and salt and pepper on the insides and baked it at 400 for about 30 minutes.
then the same as the recipe. it was SO good. and 30 minutes is not too bad. the 40-75 minute roastings had me worried, but i just cranked up the heat and the texture was just as perfect.
Try keeping your squash in for 80-90 minutes at 375. Make sure you pierce it with a fork, and its ok if the top gets a little brown. Then it should be tender enough.
This recipe was delish, and I used 1/2 cup Ricotta instead of the full 3/4. And I've decided that pine nuts will make any food I eat taste amazing. Thanks for posting.
I wonder if you could start the squash in the microwave first, then finish with less time in the oven? I just made a soup from a Cook's Illustrated recipe that has you take a large butternut squash, peel it, cut it into 2 inch chunks, and then microwave in a covered container until soft. I know spaghetti squash is different but maybe you could do it like a sweet potato--cut it in half, pierce it, microwave it, and then finish it for a short time in a hot oven? Maybe I'll try it and report back!