This recipe is for an 8" springform pan, but this recipe is fairly forgiving if you're good an experienced enough cook to eyeball and want to use different sized springforms. I have an 8", a 9" and two smaller 4" ones. Personal sized ones in the 4" pans would be too cute!
There are a lot of steps here but it comes together easily, just read through everything first and have all of the ingredients ready to go.
Spaghetti Pie
Make a spaghetti pie just like the ones at Old Chicago, but you can get a whole pie instead of one slice when you make this recipe! It's as customizable as at the restaurant, but this cheesy marinara drenched version is my favorite!
Servings 8 servings
Equipment
- one 8" springform pan
Ingredients
- 1 12 oz. box of spaghetti
- 1 24 oz. jar of marinara or your preferred tomato-based sauce
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ cup flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups of an Italian cheese blend buy a bag or grate your own combination of mozzarella, Parmesan, provolone, Romano, and asiago, cheeses
- 1 cup extra grated Parmesan cheese
- Dash of nutmeg
- Optional garnishes: pepperoni fresh basil, pesto, chopped tomatoes)
Instructions
- Cooking your own pasta sauce? Get it started if so, using your favorite recipe. Using a jarred version? Warm it up in a small saucepan over low heat.
- Boil the spaghetti according to package directions in a large pot.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Divide out 1 cup of cheese blend and ¼ cup of Parmesan in a bowl and set aside. Pour the rest of the Parmesan in with the bigger portion of cheese blend.
- In a medium sized pot, melt the butter over medium heat.
- Measure out the milk and heavy cream so it’s ready to go.
- Once the butter is melted, whisk in the flour, keeping the motion going so that there are no lumps.
- When the flour and butter are thoroughly combined, slowly pour in the milk. Slowly add in the cream, still whisking!
- Bring the heat up to medium high, and continue whisking, but you can be a bit less constant.
- Add the dash of nutmeg at this point, and salt and pepper if desired.
- Slowly begin adding the larger portion of the cheese blend to the cream mixture. Keep whisking til the cheese has melted and turn off the heat.
- At this point, drain the spaghetti but reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
- Remove 1 cup of cheese sauce from the rest and set aside.
- Mix the spaghetti and remaining cheese sauce in the large spaghetti boiling pot. Combine thoroughly, using the pasta water to thin the sauce as needed so every strand is coated.
- Dump the spaghetti-cheese mixture into an ungreased, locked 8″ springform pan. Use a large spoon to even out the top.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and spread remaining cheese sauce on top. Top with remaining Parmesan and cheese blend.
- Bake for 10 more minutes.
- Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge to loosen the baked on cheese topping from the edges.
- Unlock the springform pan and gently remove the outer part of the pan from the pie. Use the knife to coax loose strands as needed.
- To serve, put as much pasta sauce as you desire on a plate, then use a large, sharp knife and pie server to place a piece of pie on the sauced plate. Garnish as desired.
Sure, that's a lot of steps but they are easy ones overall. I made this on a weeknight with no problem! This recipe is worth it, makes a ton of leftovers that can be jazzed up in tons of ways, and this bad boy reheats fantastically in a microwave. And this looks super cool at a dinner party... even if there's a gooey delicious cheese leak.
