Spaghetti Pie

Vanessa’s grand-prize winning pasta casserole takes the classic flavors of meaty lasagna and turns them into a quick and easy pie-shaped casserole. A pasta crust holds ricotta cheese, beef-flavored pasta sauce, and a cheesy topping. When we made Vanessa’s spaghetti pie, here’s what we discovered:

Test Kitchen Discoveries

• Use ultra-thin vermicelli pasta for the crust because it cooks quickly and packs down to a dense, easy-to-slice crust when combined with garlic, butter, egg, Parmesan, and basil.
• Use lean ground beef (90 percent) in the sauce; otherwise the finished pie will be greasy.
• Adding an egg to the ricotta cheese lends it structure and keeps it bound in a discrete layer.
• Make sure to liberally season the water in which the pasta is cooked; otherwise the casserole will likely taste bland. We recommend 1 tablespoon of table salt per gallon of water.