As a super novice cook, I would like to take the time to thank one of my favorite kitchen ingredients: PASTA!
Pasta, you make my life so much easier. There will always be room (more like a cupboard) in my kitchen for you.
Usually I go for making spaghetti a la homer, which is one of my favorite pasta dishes ever. But since I have yet to find mizithra cheese in Toronto, I have resorted in being creative with my pasta dinners.
(But if anyone knows where I can find mizithra cheese in Toronto, please let me know. I already checked Whole Foods with no luck..)
The sad part about my obsession with pasta dishes is that when I have no time or ingredients (or energy) to make even the basic of basic pasta dishes, I resort to a frozen lasagna at the nearest grocery store.
Since everyone keeps telling me how hard it is to make homemade lasagna, the tossing an already prepared lasagna into the oven is so tempting that I cave and buy one some weeks. But I may have found something quite similar, but SO much better than frozen lasagna!
I am already planning on putting this dish on my regular rotation. It is SO easy to make, with minimal ingredients that you probably already have the majority of them sitting in your kitchen right now! Less grocery shopping makes for a happy day. For me, this means more time spent on Netflix! Or reading for pleasure.
So if anyone has any book suggestions, I would love to hear them! Because now I can relax and read while this spaghetti dish is in the oven. Talk about a win-win!
Baked Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 16 oz spaghetti
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 (32 oz) jar meatless spaghetti sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 5 Tbsp salted butter, melted
- 2 cups cottage cheese, divided
- 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti in boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, about 12 minutes. Drain.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the beef and onion until meat is browned and onions are soft and translucent, about 7 minutes. Drain. Mix in the spaghetti sauce and salt to the meat mixture.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, Parmesan cheese, and butter. Add the spaghetti to the egg mixture and toss to coat. Place half the spaghetti mixture into the baking dish. Top with half of the cottage cheese, mozzarella, and meat sauce. Repeat layers. Cover with aluminum foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake until the cheese is melted and lightly browned, around 20 to 25 minutes longer.
I love a good baked pasta dish. It's so easy to put together after a long day at work! This looks delicious! 🙂
I love baked pasta and this one will be perfect when the kids and grandkids come to visit. Thank you for sharing!
My mother used to do a baked spaghetti and this sounds similar which means it must taste great! Pasta is something we always had on our weekly rotation. Now my husband doesn't want the white stuff. This is torture!
My mother used to do a baked spaghetti and this sounds similar which means it must taste great! Pasta is something we always had on our weekly rotation. Now my husband doesn't want the white stuff. This is torture!