GREAT Aunt Jan's Spaghetti Pie

Pie is a really big deal on my dad’s side of the family. An example of this is that we will sometimes have pie parties where everyone brings multiple pies and we all just sit around and eat pie. I’m not kidding... There could be 30 pies there at one time.

The most recent pie party (they weren't all there yet either)

Well my great aunt Janice is a very amazing lady who always makes sure that I emphasize the GREAT in great aunt. She took it upon herself to come up with the only non-dessert pie at the pie party. She got a lot of crap for doing so but by about the 5^th piece of dessert, something a little lower in sugar is pretty amazing. I was really young the first time I tried it but I loved it and used to make my mom cook it for me whenever I could. I never actually saw Aunt Jan’s recipe, but this is how my mom and I make it. I would describe it as a hybrid between spaghetti and lasagna. (it’s faster than lasagna too I think)

Without further ado, here is how to do it. (I usually don’t measure things when I make this so I apologize in advance if things are a little vague.)

First and foremost, cook about half a pound of regular spaghetti and brown ½ to 1 lb of ground beef.

Once the noodles are cooked, rinse them in coolish (ie so the egg wont cook on the pasta) water and drain. Stir noodles, 1 egg, and about a ½ cup of grated parmesan cheese until well blended.

An egg layed this morning by either Carol or Audrey

Grease a pie dish and use a spoon (or your hands I guess if you are feeling wild) to pack the noodles into the dish as much as you can. The firmer the better girlfriend, this is your “crust”.

Cram those noodles in there!

Next spoon out about ¾ to 1 cup of cottage cheese onto the noodle-base and spread it out with a spoon to cover the spaghetti the sprinkle with grated parmesan.

Mix up the cooked and drained ground beef with a tomato sauce of your choice (I used some that I canned from my tomatoes) I used about a cup of sauce but feel free to use more or less depending on how saucy you like things. Spread this mix over the cottage cheese and parm. Top that thing with some shredded mozzarella!

Never skimp on mozzarella

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes until heated through and cheese is melty and starting to brown. Remove and let set for a few minutes before eating. Slice it like you would a pie! You should have pie for dessert too! Make this for supper on pie day, March 14^th! Oh boy, I love pie!

Bad lighting, but you get the idea

 

 

Ingredients

• ½ lb of spaghetti
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• ½ lb ground beef (you could omit this for a vegetarian pie)
• 1 cup or more pasta sauce

• 1 cup shredded mozzarella

 

Directions

1.  Brown ground beef and drain
2.  Cook pasta, rinse and drain
3. Mix pasta, egg, and ½ cup of grated parmesan and press into a greased pie dish
4. Spread 1 cup of cottage cheese over pasta mixture then sprinkle with remaining parmesan
5.  Mix meat and sauce and then spread over cheese
6. Top with shredded mozzarella and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 25-30 until heated through and cheese is melty.
7. Let set a few minutes before serving in wedges