Spaghetti Pie
Ingredients
Pasta Crust:
- 4 oz thin spaghetti or vermicelli broken into 2 inch pieces
- kosher salt
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter softened
- 1 C parmesan cheese grated
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1 Tbsp fresh basil minced
Filling:
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 3/4 C onion diced fine
- 1/2 lb 90% or 93% lean ground beef
- 1 15-oz can tomato sauce
- 3 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp fresh basil minced
- kosher salt and pepper
- 1 C ricotta cheese (preferably whole milk)
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 1/2 C shredded mozarella cheese
Instructions
For the Pasta Crust:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and place rack in lower part of the oven. Spray a 10-inch pie plate with cooking spray.
- Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain well.
- In a medium bowl, combine cooked hot pasta, garlic, butter, parmesan, egg and basil, and stir well to combine.
- Press mixture into the pie plate evenly, pressing pasta up the sides also to form an edge, and bake until crust is set, about 15-18 minutes. Cool on counter while making filling. Leave oven on at 350 degrees.
For the Filling:
- While crust is cooking, start the filling. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and cook until softened about 4 minutes. Add beef and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 6-8 minutes. Drain off any excess fat. Stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, and sugar and simmer about 3 minutes, until thickened. Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper.
- In a small bowl, stir together the ricotta, egg and oregano until well blended. Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the pasta crust, but not up the sides. Top the ricotta with the meat mixture, spreading evenly across the pie crust. Sprinkle the top of the meat mixture with the mozarella. Bake until golden brown on top, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes before slicing.
- Enjoy!