Baked Spaghetti

This is a great ol’ standard. It’s kind of like a lasagna, but creamier and makes a good bunch o’ food. It’s very filling and makes a lot. This started as a recipe from Rose Reisman’s Weekday Wonders cookbook, which was my bible in my single life. I’ve made some minor additions.

Ingredients:

  • Olive oil (for frying the onions, etc., don’t need a lot)
  • 2 chopped onions (1 cup -ish)
  • 3 cloves chopped garlic (half a bulb is good)
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 1 package of chopped mushrooms
  • A package of ground beef (usually around 1-2 lbs/1kg)
  • 1 can of tomato sauce (around 650 mls)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons-ish dried basil
  • 1 tablespoon-ish oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (to taste, I usually use a teaspoon, or a bit more)
  • 1 package of spaghetti (around 450g)
  • 1 container of sour cream (around 400-500g)
  • 1 container of ricotta (around 400-500g)
  • 1 package of cream cheeze (around 250 g)
  • pinch of salt
  • pinch of pepper
  • 1 package of shredded mozzarella (around 300g)
  • 1 package of grated Parmesan (around 125g)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 250. Spray a 13 x 9 glass baking dish with misto olive oil.
  2. In a saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
  3. Cook onions and garlic until softened (around 5 mins).
  4. Add green peppers and mushrooms and cook until peppers are softened a bit.
  5. Stir in beef and cook until no longer pink, stirring to break up meat (around 5 mins).
  6. Add tomato sauce, basil, oregano, and hot pepper. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 mins, covered.
  7. In a pot of boiling water, add spaghetti and cook until tender, but firm (about 10 mins).
  8. Combine sour cream, ricotta, cream cheese and 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan, salt and pepper in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.
  9. Drain spaghetti and add to baking dish.
  10. Spoon the mixture in step 8 over the spaghetti and mix it together until it’s a nice gooey mess.
  11. Spoon the tomato sauce over the top, trying to make it fairly even.
  12. Cover the top with shredded mozzarella until it’s evenly covered. I usually use a whole bag of pre-shredded mozzarella from the supermarket.
  13. Sprinkle parmesan over the mozarella.
  14. Bake for 20 minutes.
  15. Spoon out to serve. Usually makes a good 12 servings or so.