BEEF PARMESAN AND SPAGHETTI SQUASH

Beef Parmesan and Spaghetti Squash image

I recently bought my first spaghetti squash. After digging through the freezer and cupboards, this is what I put together.

Provided by Wendy Scott

Time 1h15m

Number Of Ingredients 14

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Ingredients

1 1/2 to 2 lb spaghetti squash
1 to 2 Tbsp olive oil
2 lb cube steak
3/4 c italian bread crumbs, regular or panko
3/4 c grated parmesan cheese
1/2 c all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
26 oz spaghetti sauce, your favorite flavor
1/4 c olive oil
4 Tbsp butter
1 to 2 tsp garlic, minced
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
2 c mozzarella cheese, shredded

Steps:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. With a large metal spoon, scoop out the seeds. Drizzle squash halves with olive oil and place cut side up on a baking sheet.
2. In a medium bowl or a plastic zip-type bag, combine bread crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese. In another bowl or zip-type bag, place the flour. You can season the flour if you like; for me, the breadcrumbs and cheese are enough. In a third bowl or pie plate, place the beaten eggs.
3. Dredge the cube steaks in flour, shaking to get rid of excess. One at a time, dip the cube steaks in the beaten egg, making sure that no flour stays dry. Then roll or shake the cube steaks in the bread crumb-Parmesan mixture.
4. At this point, you can pan-fry the cube steaks in olive oil if you prefer. I was feeling extra lazy this day and just placed them side by side on a 9 x 13 baking dish that I had covered with aluminum foil and sprayed with no-stick spray. I put the squash and the cube steaks in the oven at the same time and set the timer for one hour.
5. After 40 minutes, take the cube steaks out of the oven and top with the spaghetti sauce. Return the steaks to the oven for the remaining 20 minutes. When the 60 minutes are up, remove the spaghetti squash from the oven. Top the steaks with the mozzarella, turn the oven off, and leave them in the oven to keep them warm while you scrape the squash.
6. Use a fork to scrape the "spaghetti" into a large bowl. Add olive oil, butter, garlic, salt and pepper to the bowl and toss well. Serve squash topped with the cube steaks and spaghetti sauce.
7. The cube steaks I had were pretty thick - in two pounds of meat there were only six steaks. Next time I'll definitely choose much thinner steaks, or try a ground beef patty instead.