Not really cooking more like an assembly

Last week I decided to start making use of my Laura Chenel goat cheese. I took the "easy route" and made a pizza using a classic flavor combination of goat cheese, prosciutto and arugula.

Work has been even more hectic than usual, so I needed something quick and low maintenance. First, I stopped at Trader Joe's for one of their whole wheat pizza crusts and some prosciutto, knowing full well that I will have spent more time in the checkout line than I will actually making my pizza. After a solid ten minutes in the express line, I made my way home and got to "work"

Step one: preheat oven
Step two: remove pizza crust from wrapper

Step three: remove prosciutto from wrapper

Step four: remove goat cheese from wrapper

Step five: wash some baby arugula

Step six: spray the base of the crust with olive oil spray and start layering ingredients

Step seven: season with pepper, garlic powder and thyme (plenty of salt in the prosciutto)

The pizza came out of the oven in about 10 minutes and I drizzled some olive oil on top. As a side dish, I sauteed some spaghetti squash and seasoned with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, fresh thyme and a generous helping of grated cheese. This side dish was inspired by Smunch's comments to my spaghetti squash post. Decadent and delicious! Thanks Smunch!

To me, this was about the same amount of work as pouring myself a bowl of cereal and I couldn't help but wonder would some people consider this "cooking"?

Spaghetti Squash: two variations

I decided to try a recipe that RRR had emailed me awhile back saying, "This might be a good idea for lunch". So last Sunday, I took a crack at Weight Watchers' recipe for Italian Turkey and Spaghetti Squash Pie.

The recipe is on the link above and I made a few tiny adjustments. For what is basically their version of a bechamel sauce (ricotta plus an egg) I added a generous helping of thyme. Instead of the olive oil, I used my trusty nonstick cooking spray since it seemed a bit unnecessary for this dish. And you might say that no self-respecting cook would use a fat free mozzarella but in this instance, it melted quite nicely and took on the flavor of the sauce. I think you don't use enough cheese for it to get rubbery.

Unfortunately for me, I underestimated the size of my dish and the amount of "spaghetti" that my squash would yield. As I was layering (squash, then ricotta mixture, then sauce, then cheese) I wound up with a holy mess. The sauce leaked over the sides of the pan and I had to cook it with a baking sheet underneath to catch the dripping sauce. Lucky for me, taste and aesthetics don't always go hand in hand and I wound up with a flavorful hearty lunch that I rounded out with a small mesclun salad.

This experiment led to this week's slight variation of the same recipe. Instead of a lasagna-type dish, I went for a simpler squash with a chunky Bolognese-type sauce. Spaghetti squash is in abundance at my local market (sadly, acorn and butternut squash aren't looking so great) so I decided to give it another go, but with a few minor adjustments.

I started by halving a spaghetti squash, scooping out the seeds and pulp, then placing it cut side down in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes. I added a bit of water to the bottom of the dish, but it's not completely necessary.

While that was cooking, I began to brown 1 1/2 lbs of ground turkey. While that was draining, I sauteed half an onion and 3 small cloves of garlic. On a whim, I grated into the onion and garlic one small carrot to add a bit of sweetness to the sauce. The turkey went back into the pan and was joined by a jar of Nanina's marinara sauce (a gift from my Aunt) and a large can of diced tomatoes.

To this mixture I added: chicken stock, some generous squeezes from my tube of tomato paste, fresh nutmeg, thyme, Kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, garlic powder, crushed red pepper and two bay leaves. I let that simmer for a good twenty minutes and then removed the bay leaf.

While the sauce was simmering, the squash became cool enough to handle. I took a fork and basically raked the inside of the squash and placed the spaghetti-like strands of squash into a bowl.

Once that was done, a heaping scoop of squash, some of the hearty, tasty sauce, a sprinkling of grated cheese and in no time I was enjoying a low calorie version of a typical Italian Sunday meal... and without the post meal carb coma!