Some Recipes

Spaghetti Pie II

Recipe Submitted by Donna ..|.. Index | Meat / Main Dishes

This spaghetti pie is quite like lasagna in flavor but it is much easier to prepare than lasagna. Bake in an 11-inch quiche dish. A pie pan is too small.
[oven 350 degrees F.]

Ingredients

• Butter to grease quiche dish
• 1 24 ounce jar of spaghetti sauce, use a meaty flavor such as Italian sausage or use your favorite flavor [Meat based flavors suit this dish best.]
• 8 ounces dry spaghetti noodles (OR 9 ounces dry gluten-free rice spaghetti noodles)
• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (or Monterey Jack)
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 pint (16 ounces) ricotta cheese, low fat is fine
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese OR cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Grease the quiche dish generously with butter. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Pour spaghetti sauce in a small sauce pan, cover and place on the stove to warm. Sauce does not have to simmer, but it is good for it to be at least very hot. Meanwhile..
3. Prepare spaghetti noodles as directed. And while the noodles are cooking ...
4. In a small bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1 1/2 teaspoons oregano, and 1 teaspoon salt until well blended. Set aside.
   
5. When the noodles are done, pour into a colander to drain. Do not rinse the hot pan ...
6. Add to the hot pan- 2 tablespoons butter. Do Not put the pan back on the hot stove eye. Let the butter melt and then add the drained noodles back into the pan.
7. Add to the noodles- 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese and 2 beaten eggs. Stir until the cheese, eggs, and noodles are well mixed.
8. Check the sauce. Is it hot? If the sauce is hot, turn off the stove.
9. Pour the noodles into the buttered quiche pan and spread out over the bottom of the pan. Spread the noodles up the sides like a crust.
   
10. Spread the ricotta cheese mix on top of the noodles. Spread out the cheese over the noodles, but not up the sides.
    
11. Pour the spaghetti sauce over the ricotta cheese.
12. Bake in the 350 degree F oven for 40 minutes. The sauce on top should have some bubbles rising.
    
13. Remove from oven and sprinkle the top with the 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese OR cheddar cheese and place back into the oven for 10 minutes.
14. Remove from oven and let sit for around 15 minutes. Slice and serve. Serve with a salad. Serves 6-8.

Tip: To make this dish a little special or different, cook 1/4 lb. ground beef and 1/2 lb high quality "breakfast" sausage with a few mushrooms in the saucepan before adding the spaghetti sauce to the pan in step 2. Season accordingly (salt might be needed).

Noodles - Rice, Wheat, & Corn

Why do I recommend 9 ounces of rice noodles, yet only 8 ounces of wheat noodles?

Rice noodles do not expand when they are boiled. Wheat noodles do expand when they are boiled, so if you use rice noodles, then you do need to use at least 9 ounces, which is actually barely enough. Of course, you may try it with 8 ounces of rice noodles since they are packaged in 8 ounce boxes.

I recently tried this with corn noodles. I used 8 ounces of corn noodles. Corn noodles expand when boiled and so 8 ounces of corn noodles seemed like too much.

The Canned Sauce

The recipe calls for a meat based canned spaghetti sauce. Using a canned sauce is merely a time saver. If you would prefer a homemade sauce, use the sauce portion of Spaghetti Pie I and add around 45 minutes to the total preparation time for this dish.