_900.png "Roasted Spaghetti Squash With Ricotta, Pomodoro & Crispy Fried Sage")
This week's recipe is all about simple comfort food! Featuring our seasonal spaghetti squash from Top Tomato Farm, this recipe features just a handful of simple ingredients from The Market, including our delicious ready made Pomodoro sauce from Buca Cucina!
With just 5 minutes of hands on work, this roasted spaghetti squash recipe is ready in an hour and makes for a delicious, gluten free, vegetarian and (slightly) healthier "pasta" dinner!
Stuffed with our Bella Casara ricotta cheese, Bright's mozzarella and Buca Pomodoro, this spaghetti squash is baked to perfection until the sauce and cheese and perfectly bubbly.
Meet Our Farmers & Producers
Quality Cheese
The ricotta cheese used in this recipe is our Bella Casara ricotta by Quality Cheese. A gorgeous porcelain white, rich, creamy cheese with a mild and clean flavour.
Located in Vaughan, Quality Cheese is owned and operated by the Borgo Brothers. They are award winning cheese producers who pride themselves in using only the freshest milk and ingredients, paying attention to every detail, and using the best practices and techniques to make great cheese.
Top Tomato Farm
The de Filippis family has been farming for over 55 years. They began with a focus on cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower but have experimented with many varieties in the years since such as artichokes, squashes, tomatoes and more!
Top Tomato now has one of the widest ranges of products available of the farms we work with and are the farmers behind the spaghetti squash in this recipe!
Buca
Chef Rob Gentile of Buca has transformed our beautiful Farmington canned tomatoes into this delicious Buca Pomodoro sauce. This flavourful, authentic Italian Pomodoro sauce is a perfect sauce to pair with the spaghetti squash and ricotta in this recipe.
Bright's Cheese & Dairy
Bright's Mozzarella Cheese has a mild creamy taste and is the perfect cheese to use in this recipe! Bright's Cheese & Dairy is well known for their all natural, naturally-aged cheeses made with 100% local milk.
Bright’s Cheese & Dairy is the oldest surviving dairies producing cheddar in Ontario.
Hillside Gardens
The yellow onions in this recipe are sourced from Hillside Gardens, a fourth generation family farm and processing facility in Bradford, ON.
They were early adopters of the Local Food Plus program and place a high value on sustainability and innovation.
August's Harvest
Our local garlic from August's Harvest enhances the subtle flavours in this recipe.
August’s Harvest is now one of the largest commercial garlic growers in Ontario.
The Olive Farm
From the innovative Olive Farm located on Vancouver Island, George and Sheri Braun produce olive oil in the fertile soil of Fulford Valley on Salt Spring Island.
Alliston Creamery
Alliston's "Golden Dawn" brand of butter perfect for frying sage. It's silky smooth and full of beautiful buttery flavour made using milk from the Niagara and Golden Horseshoe region.
Ingredients
- 1 x Top Tomato Spaghetti Squash
- 1/2 Jar Buca Pomodoro Sauce
- 1 cup Bella Casara Ricotta
- 1 1/4 cup shredded Bright's Mozzarella Cheese
- 8 x Fresh Sage Leaves
- 3 tbsp Salted Golden Dawn Butter
- 2 x cloves August's Harvest garlic
- 1 x Hillside Gardens yellow onion
- 2 tbsp Olive Farm olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
Method
Preheat your oven to 425°F.
To make it easier to cut and deseed your spaghetti squash, carefully poke some holes in the surface of the squash with a fork or knife. Place the squash in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.
Remove the spaghetti squash and cut it in half horizontally and scoop out the seeds. If you've never cooked a spaghetti squash before, you'll notice that the "meat" of the squash looks solid before it is cooked! Once cooked, the flesh will peel away from the skin in noodle-like strands resembling spaghetti, hence the name spaghetti squash!
Using a pastry brush, brush your squash with olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.
The added garlic and onion in this dish are completely optional! They simply add a little extra flavour and texture. However, Buca's Pomodoro alone has an incredible depth of flavour.
If you're adding them, dice your onions and mince your garlic. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and add your onions. Sautee the onion until translucent and add your garlic to the pan. Cook for another 2 minutes and then add your Buca Pomodoro sauce to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes.
In the meantime, grate your Bright's mozzarella cheese and mix 1/4 cup with your 1 cup of ricotta cheese. Add a layer of the mixture to the bottom of each squash half.
Next, fill the rest of the squash with the sauce. Top with the rest of the grated mozzarella cheese.
Cover the tops of the squash with tin foil and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove the tin foil and cook for an additional 30 minutes or until the cheese is nice and golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes. In the meantime, make your fried sage!
We've been really into fried sage lately. It adds such a beautiful texture and seasonal fall flavour to any dish! To fry your sage, heat your Golden Dawn salted butter in a small saucepan over medium to high heat. Add your fresh sage leaves.
Once the sage is nice and crispy, remove from the butter and roughly chop. Sprinkle on top of your spaghetti squash with the crispy sage.
Using a fork, start pulling at the sides of the squash to release the strands. Use the skin as a "bowl" and mix all the strands with the sauce and cheese.
Enjoy!
