On the Fly Spaghetti Pie - Baked Spaghetti

Brandess's Note:

When I was child, my oldest sister would take my nephew and I to a pizza place called 'Godfathers Pizza'- there are still a few around on the East Coast. I fell head over heels in love with their baked spaghetti! A dish they would make with the leftover spaghetti from the day before. For years I craved the specific flavor of the Godfather's sauce until one day I bought a jar of Classico Italian Sausage with Peppers and Onions spaghetti sauce. WOW! Was I shocked and happy to find it was almost exactly like I had remembered the Godfather's sauce to be. Recently I discovered that Newman's Own also makes a close second called Sockarooni Sauce! Either way, here is my recipe for Baked Spaghetti. I also encourage you to use either of these sauces on homemade pizza! Enjoy!

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 lb sweet Italian turkey sausage
• 1/2 lb spaghetti
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 (24 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce, Classico, Newman's Own, divided
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, fresh grated not the ground kind
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup Italian cheese blend, mozzarella

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven, or toaster oven, to 350 degrees.
2. Remove sausage from casings, crumble and brown in a frying pan until cooked through. Drain all oil from the sausage.
3. Mix the jar sauce with the sour cream. Ladle 1/4 cup of the sauce into the bottom of a 8x8, 9x9 or 10x10 baking dish. Top with 2 tsp of the fresh grated parmesan.
4. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti according to package directions, drain and toss with sausage, red pepper flakes, the remaining spaghetti sauce, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup of the Italian cheese blend.
5. Place the spaghetti mixture on top of the sauce in the baking dish. Place the cheese mixture on top of the spaghetti.
6. Finish off with remaining cheese mixture on top.
7. Place baking dish in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving with a crusty bread.
8. NOTE: The larger the dish you use, the thinner your recipe becomes in height. An 8x8 baking dish will yield a 3in high pie, whereas a 10x10 dish will yield a 2 inch high pie. You can also make this recipe with leftover spaghetti from a previous meal. Simply make sauce with the sour cream and mix with your spaghetti as in STEPS 3 & 4. Top off as in STEP 6 and bake as directed in STEP 7.

Reviews

[KeeperAtHome]

This was delicious! I only used 1/2 lb of turkey sausage and the "powdery" parmesan cheese because I am trying to stretch our food budget a little farther these days. It was still delicious and my 4 kids and 2 of their friends cleaned their plates and asked for seconds. I will definitely make this again. Thanks for the recipe!

[Little_Sister]

Nice change from the typical spaghetti and meat sauce! Had to modify some because of what I had on hand...instead of 16 ounces of turkey I had 19 ounces of regular sweet Italian sausage and instead of a 24 ounce jar I had a 32 ounce jar of spaghetti sauce so I increased everything else just a bit and baked in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Served with a mixed green salad and garlic knots for an easy and really tasty dinner.

[Chris #5]

I used spicy Italian sausage, and this was very easy, tasty, and filling. I scaled the recipe in half, used a 1-1/2 qt oval casserole dish, and it would have adequately served 4 people.
Clearly, with a nice homemade sauce it would have been 5 stars, but as an easy weeknight dish, it was really good.