Spinach-Artichoke Spaghetti Squash Boats
Serves: 4-6
 
Ingredients
  • 1 medium or large spaghetti squash
  • Unrefined olive oil
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Spinach-Artichoke Filling:
  • 10 ounces artichoke hearts frozen/defrosted or packed in water, drained
  • ¼ cup chopped shallots
  • 1 medium clove garlic
  • 10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (I do this in a thin clean kitchen towel) or 10 ounces fresh spinach, steamed in a little water until wilted and excess water pressed out
  • ½ cup plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt
  • ½ cup Vegenaise or mayonnaise (I use soy-free Vegenaise or Primal Kitchen Vegan avocado oil mayo. Mayonnaise is just oil and, if not vegan, egg yolks. No need to freak out about it.)
  • ⅔ cup grated Pecorino or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
  • 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (I go light on the cheese, but feel free to add more.)
  • Pinch of crushed red pepper
  • Sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Rub the inside of each half with a drizzle of olive oil and season with ½ teaspoon salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Arrange cut-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 30 to 45 minutes until tender. DO NOT OVERCOOK! Test them by inserting a fork between the flesh and the skin and try to rake the strands. Set aside cut-side up until they are cool enough to handle. Leave oven on if baking boats immediately and RAISE TEMP TO 425°F.
  3. Using a fork, pull the strands of squash crosswise from the peel so that it resembles spaghetti, trying not to cut through the squash skin.
  4. In a food processor, coarsely chop the artichoke hearts with the shallots and garlic.
  5. If your food processor is large enough, you can add the spinach, yogurt, vegenaise, pecorino, mozzarella, and crushed red pepper and do a few pulses to combine or transfer to a large bowl to mix. Take a little taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Spaghetti squash is pretty bland, so this should be well-seasoned.
  6. In a large bowl, toss the spaghetti squash strands with the spinach-artichoke filling and mix until well combined. Fill spaghetti squash boats with the prepared filling and bake (at 425 F) on a parchment lined baking sheet (I use the same one I roasted the squash in) for 25 minutes, until hot, lightly browned and cheese is melted. Serve immediately. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4-5 days. Reheat in a microwave or covered in a saucepan with a few tablespoons of water until heated through.
Notes
it *may* be possible to make this dairy-free with vegan mozzarella (Violife has a good one) and vegan Parmesan and vegan yogurt (Forager cashew yogurt or Kite Hill coconut yogurt may work.) Or you can try swapping in Kite Hill vegan cream cheese for the yogurt or your favorite vegan sour cream. I haven’t tried these, but I am pretty sure they would work.
Recipe by Pamela Salzman at https://pamelasalzman.com/spinach-artichoke-spaghetti-squash-boats-recipe/