Just in time for your holiday wish list, I have the most amazing kitchen appliance to share with you! It is the Cuisinart 3 in 1 Multicooker. It not only slow cooks, but you can brown your meats and vegetables first, with the brown/sauté function. Then use the slow cook function to cook the dish. If you need to thicken the sauce at the end, just turn it back to the sauté function and finish cooking it down to your desired thickness. It even offers a steam option as well. It’s an amazing piece of equipment that can do all of the steps for your recipes in one easy to clean vessel! (You can purchase it right from my Amazon aStore on the right column of my site!)
A perfect recipe to showcase the Cuisinart 3 in 1 Multicooker’s wonderful ability is this incredible recipe for Spaghetti Squash with Bolognese and Burrata. This is my second endeavor into the Half Baked Harvest blog that I recently found and it is extremely noteworthy. This is definitely going to be a recipe that I revisit, which is not my norm! One of the most interesting things about this recipe is that you cook the WHOLE spaghetti squash in one piece in the slow cooker right on top of the sauce. You don’t have to fight with trying to cut into a hard squash while it is raw. It cooks completely and is simple to cut open and shred for serving!
The sauce that I made is a traditional Bolognese style sauce which I love including carrots and celery. The recipe calls for hot Italian sausage and lean ground beef, however you can easily convert that to turkey sausage and ground turkey without losing any flavor whatsoever. One of the things I like about a Bolognese style meat sauce is the subtleness that the milk ingredient lends. Pairing this dish with a piece of burrata cheese brings out that characteristic even more and is simply divine!
This was one of my favorite meals of late and would be a fabulous dish for company over the holidays since you can set it all up in the morning and have it ready when you return from your days’ activities. And you won’t be making a huge mess in your kitchen since it is all done in one pot! But, if you can’t see your way to getting a new Multicooker now, you can certainly make this recipe by browning the meats and veggies on the stove and then adding them to your slow cooker as you would normally do. Turning the cooker up to high may be enough to thicken the sauce at the end or just convert it into a stove top pot to complete. You don’t want to miss this recipe either way!
Spaghetti Squash with Bolognese and Burrata
Serves 6
- 1 lb. Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 lb. ground sirloin
- 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (32 oz.) can peeled Roma tomatoes, hand chopped with juices
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup whole milk
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 large spaghetti squash, rinsed
- 8 oz. burrata cheese
- grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Break up the sausage and ground meat into pieces and add to the skillet. Sauté until most of the pink is gone. Add the onions, celery and carrots and continue to sauté until the meat is browned and the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes total. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for an additional 2 minutes until it is well mixed with the meat and vegetables.
- Transfer the mixture to your crockpot and add the tomatoes with their juices, oregano, bay leaf, milk and 1 cup water. Stir to combine.
- Place the spaghetti squash on top in the center. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-5.
- Carefully remove the squash from the crockpot and transfer to a cutting board. Wipe away any grease and then carefully cut the squash in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds, then using a fork, scrape the squash into strands. If necessary, remove the sauce to a pot on the stove to thicken while preparing the squash strands.
- To serve, divide the spaghetti squash strands among dishes and ladle the bolognese over the top. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve the burrata alongside. A touch of fresh ground pepper over the burrata and a shred of basil will complete the dish!
- If using a Multicooker (slow cooker) with sauté function, all steps can be done in the multi cooker vessel.
(click here) for printable recipe