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Meat Sauce with Roasted Spaghetti Squash. Now THAT'S Italian!
With this fast and really hearty Italian Meat Sauce all you need is *pasta*. This roasted Spaghetti Squash is the perfect no carb stand in. I love this dish. We cook the sauce while the spaghetti roasts!
Roasted Squash Ingredients
- 1 spaghetti squash (about 2 pounds), halved and seeded
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Meat Sauce Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian Sausage, removed from casings (Jimmy Dean Italian sausage is lean and flavorful)
- 3 garlic cloves, sliced
- One 28 ounce can crushed Italian tomatoes
- 1 small package fresh basil, leaves stacked, rolled and sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon Truvia or 2 teaspoon Splenda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Drizzle each cut side of squash with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place cut side down on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment or sprayed with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Roast 50 to 60 minutes, until squash is tender when pierced with a knife.
- While squash roasts and cools, make the sauce. Brown the sausage in a nonstick skillet breaking up with a fork into an even texture, drain any fat with a spoon, add the garlic and saute for an additional minute to soften. Add tomatoes, basil, crushed pepper, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and Truvia. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
- When squash is cool enough to handle, gently scrape flesh with a fork to remove long spaghetti strands and transfer to a medium bowl. Toss with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and lightly season with salt, pepper and a scattering of Parmesan.
- To serve, lightly pile a portion of squash in a shallow bowl or plate and ladle some of the meat sauce to the side. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan. For extra vegetables, place a small handful of baby spinach leaves on the bottom of the bowl under the hot squash and sauce - the heat will gently wilt the leaves.
