Cooking in advance

The other day while I was out running some errands, I ventured into the grocery store to pick up a few quick items. Out of habit I scanned the meat section for any deals and stumbled upon a buy one, get one sale on ground chicken from this otherwise expensive organic chicken company. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do with it, but I picked up two packages of it just in case some inspiration hit me.

A few days later, as I was knocking out some stuff on my house ‘to do’ list, my wife and I were brainstorming over what I should do with the ground chicken. Her immediate suggestion was for me to make a big batch of ragout, which she loves and will eat by itself like it was chili.

I need pasta to go with my ragout, however, and since my diabetes diagnosis pasta and I are no longer friends. Still, with football season rapidly approaching, the Italian in me was desperate to find some way to enjoy a big bowl of pasta while watching the games.

As a result, I’ve been on a mission to find some pasta like substance that doesn’t taste like cardboard or make my blood sugar soar. Fortunately, a month or so ago I made a discovery in the ever expanding section of alternative pastas that has made me a very happy man.

After finishing up the stuff around the house, I set off to make a big vat of ragout, which is a great way to have dinner ready to go for several nights. Whenever I can I make something we can transform into one or two future meals so there is less stress and prep work. My ragout is rather hearty, and aside from going well with a bowl of pasta, it can be transformed into a number of different baked pasta dishes.

On this particular night I decided to dig back into the archives and make a dish my mom used to serve all the time: spaghetti crust pie. You make a pie crust out of cooked spaghetti, some cheese, egg for a binder and some salt and pepper to taste. I like to pre-bake the crust for a few minutes, then fill it with my ragout, top it with some cheese and finish it off in the oven.

You can fill it however you choose, so for the purposes of putting this recipe together I’ll assume ground beef and your favorite off the shelf sauce (unless you happen to have something homemade on hand) for the filling.

Spaghetti Crust Pie

Hardware

10-12″ Pie Plate
Medium Stockpot
Small mixing bowl
Cutting board, knife
Heavy bottom frying pan or skillet
Spatula, tongs, other utensils
Colander

Software

1 pound ground beef
1/2 to 1 full jar of your favorite sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
1 pound spaghetti, cooked, drained and cooled
2 large eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (or an Italian cheese mix)
Salt and pepper to taste

Assemblage

• Cook the spaghetti in the stockpot, drain and cool (drizzle a little olive oil over it or add butter while still hot so it doesn’t stick together)
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Sweat the onions for three minutes, until translucent
• Add the garlic and green bell peppers, cook for another three or four minutes
• Add the ground beef and cook until completely browned
• Drain off any excess fat and add as sauce to your tastes for the pie filing, then remove from heat and set aside
• Beat the eggs in the small bowl and add to the cooled spaghetti
• Fold in the 2/3rds of the grated cheese, hit it with some salt and pepper, then toss to combine
• Pour the spaghetti crust mixture into a greased pie plate, pressing the mixture up the sides to create a pie shell
• Sprinkle the remainig 1/3rd of the grated cheese over the pie shell and baked for 10 to 12 minutes
• Add the filling and cover the top with the shredded cheese
• Return to the oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes
• If you want a really crispy, crunchy top, set the broiler to high for three to five minutes watching it closely.

Variations on a Theme

My mom used to make this for us all the time growing up and she would use ground turkey and salsa instead of an Italian style gravy. What you make of it is really up to you. If you want to be a little fancier, then you could add some fresh herbs into the spaghetti crust mix. Additionally, you could change up the meats and substitute beef with ground pork, turkey or chicken. Almost any recipe is merely a suggestion or guide to get you where you want to go.

Presentation

Just cut it up into slices like you would any pie, toss on a plate and serve. Nothing else special to it. If you really want to get fancy I guess you could chop some herbs to toss on it. I’d probably go with either a chiffonade of basil or a little roughly chopped fresh oregano.

If you try this, or anything else you see here, drop me a comment or an email and let me know how you liked it or what you might have done differently to suit your tastes.