The ThriftStorialist: One-Counter Cooking: Spaghetti Pie

Last week when I went to cook a meal to last me a while, I polled my pantry and saw I had everything to make pasta. But regular pasta is boring. I wanted something baked, and I wanted to use my new Pyrex pie plate.

Enter spaghetti pie. To me it makes me think of mid century dishes that include elaborate jello molds that bizarrely contain spam. Filling, tasty, and easy to do on the cheap, it's a great single ladies dish.

I scanned a few Pinterest recipes but ultimately made my own dish, as I encourage you to do as well.

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

Half pound of cooked spaghetti

4 eggs

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

3/4 tbsp oregano

3/4 tbsp dried basil

1/2 tbsp cracked red pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

For the Filling:

8oz bag of shredded mozzarella

1 medium jar of sauce

2 small zucchini, sliced

1 cup chopped mushroom

3/4 cup diced tomato

1 cup sliced pepperoni

Olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar

Preheat your oven to 375.

In a large skillet sautée your filling (if you choose to use the same ingredients as me!). Inspired by a discussion on home cooking with legit Italian grandma at my office, I used extra light olive oil to sautée and as the zucchini cooked squeezed in half a lemon and a splash of ACV. I think this kept the veggies from being overpowered by the pepperoni. Add the tomatoes at the end, you don't want them to cook down too much.

In a bowl, beat the eggs. Add seasonings and cheese, then whisk well.

Add noodles to egg mixture. You will start building your crust. I started by covering the base of the pie dish, then layering strands around the sides until there was an obvious indentation in the center.

Now in retrospect I wish the crust had been permeated with sauce. So in the future I will probably put down a layer of sauce, then cheese. You could also use ricotta for this layer.