Spaghetti Pie
I’m kind of a nitwit in social situations. Consider last spring (or was it summer?), when I was at a party in New York, I met Justin Chapple. A bunch of us chatted casually over cocktails in our friend’s backyard, but I found out later he is the Mad Genius over at Food & Wine and he’s on television and all that good stuff. After I found that out, I’d hoped that I didn’t have any stray ear hairs or say something inappropriate, which happens a little too-often to me at parties. (Hence the dwindling lack of invitations in my mailbox.)
But he’s got some serious feathers in his cap, including being an absolute genius for his recipe for Cacio e Pepe Pasta Pie, which looked amazing on the Food & Wine website. For some reason, I had a bag of spaghetti in my kitchen cupboard which I’d been looking at for the past few months. I think I was planning on making spaghetti and meatballs, but the project eventually moved to the back burner – or drawer. So I decided to give the Spaghetti Pie a try.
Traditionalists can relax because I’ve recast it a bit, and it’s been redubbed Spaghetti Pie, or maybe Torte. (Because I didn’t want to get into any more trouble.) Like the original Cacio e pepe pasta, which relies on pecorino cheese and lots of freshly ground black pepper for flavor, this pie (or torte) has additional cheese to make it more substantial, and so it’s sliceable when baked. I used mostly French cheeses which take it even further from its semi-Italian roots, but it was absolutely delicious, no matter what cheese I swapped out, or what you want to call it. Being popular is overrated. (Well, from what I hear…)
I don’t normally buy cheese at the supermarket in France, since I like to support the fromagers at the markets, but it was one of those on-a-hunch meals, and I didn’t have much of a choice. If you look selectively, you can get decent cheeses at the supermarket not only in France, but in the United States as well. Comté is a reliably good choice that’s always available, and I was surprised to find pecorino, which isn’t so widely available. I augmented them with a soft mountain-style tomme, a catch-all term used to describe any number of mountain cheeses in France. This one was similar to Fontina (it’s the one in the middle, above), which gave it a dense, yet creamy texture.
I was a bit skeptical – which may be another reason people move away from me at parties – when I stirred the warm pasta into the milk, eggs and cheese, I tasted a few forkfuls because it looked so good, and had a hard time stopping myself and added it to the baking pan before I polished the giant pot of pasta off.
But later, when I unmolded the spaghetti pie from the pan, I was happily surprised at how beautiful it was. After it cooled a bit, I plunged my knife in and cut off a wedge and tasted it again. Sure enough, it was even better than it was before. Justin may be the mad genius, but I was a happy diner.
This is the perfect dish to go with the quintessential salad that recipe writers often suggest to accompany a filling or carbo-forward main course, such as this. I tossed up a lively salad of winter greens with radicchio, Belgian endive, and watercress in a mustardy vinaigrette and served it with a light red wine. I’ve taken to adding a handful of toasted pumpkin seeds to my salads to give them a bit of nutty crunch. Due to their slender shape, they meld very well with salads, just like this peppery pasta melded to a crispy, golden pie (or torte) in my oven.
| Spaghetti Pie | Print Recipe |
| 8 to 10 servings |
Storage: The torte can be made up to three days in advance and refrigerated, then rewarmed in the oven, covered with foil. It can be frozen for up to two months.
I have never heard of spaghetti pie, but, my, this looks so good. Most definitely going to give this one a try.
My Maltese bf calls this frittata! Malta also has a macaroni pie dish called timpana. Basically macaroni in bolognese sauce baked in a shortcrust pastry. Extremely indulgent but so delicious. Perhaps that could be the next pie on your list? :D
This is somewhat similar but a frittata is fried in a pan and this is baked. The great thing about this is that it yields a nice, browned crust in the oven without a lot of fuss.
“This is the perfect dish to go with the quintessential salad that recipe writers often suggest to accompany a filling or carbo-forward main course, such as this.” Ha! This really made me laugh, since I am definitely guilty of making that suggestion in recipes. It would be interesting to find out exactly what each writer means by that. The one you describe could easily be its own star recipe; conversely, I usually refer to baby greens tossed with olive oil, vinegar, S+P.
Being of Italian ancestry, I ate alot of this Pasta Pie as a child, especially on Fridays in Lent when we did not eat meat. It was a great way to use leftover pasta of any vartiety and can also be made with pasta that had been tossed in red sauce. It is the quintissential “cucina povera” but I am so happy to see that you glammed it up a bit! Thank you so very much for bringing back a sweet memory.
Fency, schmency. Some of us call that noodle kugel. ;>
Exactly! Add some raisins, and now it’s sweet!
Yes to the spaghetti pie! I made a bucatini pie not too long ago, and it made me very very happy! It seems weird to slice a wedge of spaghetti or any pasta, but It guess at the end of the day, it’s pretty much just a baked mac&cheese. Delicious, whatever you call it, because pasta and cheese should happen all the time in every imaginable way. :)
This looks good! Pasta, cheese and eggs and the salad on the side with red wine, make it practically part of my diet!
Worth breaking diet for anyway, thats for sure!
This is absolutely my favorite dish – totally an Italian grandmother dish using all the leftover pasta and cheese from the week. When I make it, I add olives, tomatoes and capers and I serve it on a bed of tomato coulis. It is heaven on a plate.
please put a reference as to how to make your variation its very appealing
thank you from San Francisco
David, this sounds marvelous. I have been reading your blog for this entire year and now we are in France (Uzes) still reading away and knowing when we get back to North Carolina we’ll be making spaghetti pie. Enjoying all this wine and will be searching out your favorite spots in Paris in a few days. You are a great, funny writer — love it all! Keep up the good work — my kind of man!
Susan, we were in Uzes with my entire family 2 summers ago. And my parents have gone on their own a few times. Loved place aux herbes. Hope you get to the restaurant Terroirs. Only outdoor dining so I’m not sure what it’s like this time of year, if it’s even open. Delicious, fresh food. Bought lots in their store to bring home. My 8 year old son loved the olives they put on the table. They gave him handfuls once they saw him gobbling them up. Such wonderful memories for me.
Terroir wasn’t open but we had some lovely meals in Uzes as well as around the countryside. Had a wonderful day with a wine guide too. After 10 days we went to Paris for the last week and now we’re home with memories and stomachs reminiscent of a wonderful time! Can’t wait to return! Took a Paris by Mouth tour with Diane who knows Davis — what fun!
I have had my Italian grandmother’s recipe for this pie for years. Even though it looked delicious, I avoided making it for the longest time because it called for 16 eggs. A more careful reading of the recipe showed that it made two pies! Now I’m looking forward to trying a new version with the different cheeses and fewer eggs. Thanks!
Can you send me your recipe? My Dad made Macaroni Pie with tons of eggs and tons of cheese AND tablespoons of black pepper!. I have played with the quantities for years since he did not write down his recipes. I would love to see if your recipe comes close to his. It would be amazing to find a recipe that equates to his delicious one!
Sure thing! I’m guessing my mother wrote it down as she watched it being made. It doesn’t read as smoothly as one of David’s recipes. Hope it’s close to your dad’s!
1 pound of cooked spaghetti
16 eggs
2 pounds of ricotta
3/4 cup grated cheese
1 tsp salt
pepper (no measurement)
1 tsp sherry
Mix all ingredients together — spaghetti last. Put hot oil in heavy skillet — shake constantly. Reduce heat. Tip it over and put back in pan and shake again.
Bake in oven 15-20 minutes @ 375 degrees (Fahrenheit).
Makes two 8″ pies.
Thanks Your recipe is close. I will try it this Easter as that’s when I traditionally make it.
Never had it, in fact I wonder if my Southern Italian mom and grandmas would approve. That said, you did it justice, I’m sure! Glad to see you are using Pecorino cheese (never ever had Parmesan growing up).
Oh, yum, yum, yum! I will be trying this in about a week! Thanks! Right now I have to go check on my easy baked corn in the oven for lunch. Take care and have a wonderful weekend! Each day is great!
This is a gorgeous and funny post. When I was (much) younger, I often made a ‘bake’ of leftover pasta (whatever was available, mix & match too), threw in a large or 2 small eggs, grated whatever strong cheese (quite often a Gruyère surchoix or – as ment. by you, a Vacherin or any ‘old’ ripe mountain cheese I had and ‘spiced’ it up incl muscat, browned small onions & garlic, and hopp, in the oven it went – always a great success and never a thought to ‘what could I call it’ – but this just reminded me that sometime it pays to go back ‘to humble roots’…. Am in Switzerland today and had ‘Appenzeller Chässpätzli’ with browned onions & apple purée at lunch – now nibbling a beautiful, richly buttered ‘twisted baguette tradition’ (Swiss) with a glorious glass of Primitivo di Manduria Riserva – la vie est belle. Stunning photos as always and a wonderful way with words – grazie tanto, caro….
Our favorite “tomme” cheese in France was tomme de Savoie. So wish it were easier to find in the States…
Looking forward to making this pie! Thanks for the recipe.
I am living in Piedmont right now and my Tuscan roommate makes this all the time! He cooks extra pasta for dinner and fries the leftovers (including sauce) into a frittata in the morning. Almost any pasta and sauce combination. Amatriciana is particularly good. I would recommend making the pasta very al dente.
I, too, wish one could get tomme de Savoie more easily in the UK – if we could, I wouldn’t cook with it!!!
An interesting take on a pasta bake! I think I might use Cheddar in place of the tomme, but would definitely use Emmenthal and/or Parmesan as well, as that goes wonderfully stringy when melted.
Did you see “Big Night” with the fabulous Stanley Tucci? A hymn to the timpano!
That looks so very solid and welcoming! And I can also see its delicious afterlife as a sandwich filling, a la bocadillo de tortilla — maybe with a nice swipe of a garlicky allioli?
Great minds think the same! Deb from Smitten Kitchen posted this fine recipe a couple of weeks ago. It is indeed delicious.
I found this really fascinating, as I’ve come across many similar recipes when researching Colonial-era food in Australia. There’s not really an equivalent in modern mainstream Australian food culture, and I’ve pondered about its origins each time it’s popped up. This post (and the great comments!) has given me so many avenues for research.
Your version looks so delicious, David, that I’m almost tempted to try one of its Colonial Australian counterparts. Thus far I’ve been too dubious about the results to even attempt one!
Classic, thrifty Italian use of leftover pasta and bits of cheese, and not something you’d see anywhere but at home.
I wonder how it would be with spaghetti squash for our gluten-free friends.
I’m planning to try this precisely because I’m gluten-free. The texture of GF pasta seems to do a lot better in cheesy sauces than in tomato ones, so it’s a good excuse!
Hi!
I’ve made this successfully with brown rice spaghetti and grain free with spaghetti squash. It works well, just shave about 3 minutes off the cooking time for the pasta, like David’s original instructions.
Can’t believe you would ever say anything inappropriate David! But if you do then come sit by me. Love the recipe I am going to try this over the weekend. Happy cooking. Love Lillian
What an excellent sounding, easy pie. Cannot wait to make & share with my wonderful neighbors. Thanks Dave. Am also enjoying your blog very much.
Perfect timing! I just bought bucatini and pecorino to make Cacio de Pepe (one of Hubby’s favorites) – so will instead turn it all into a savory pie. Add a bottle of bubbly (and the Oscars on TV) and it’s a party. Thank you, David.
This is probably slightly out there, but David do you think it would work to substitute grated potato (cooked or uncooked) instead of the pasta?
Karen and Philip: Not sure how it would work with squash or sweet potato. (A gluten-free option I mentioned would be to use gluten-free pasta, although since some get mushy quickly, it’d be best to undercook it even further than regular wheat pasta.) Squash or grated sweet potatoes may get mushy during the lengthy cooking but if you do try them, let us know how they work out!
And then it’s called potato kugel!
Yum.
This is a delicious pie. The egg mixture is very liquid, so make sure your spring form pan seals pretty well (mine didn’t) and I recommend that you bake on a rimmed pan to save on clean up.
Ooooooo!
I wonder what it would be like encasing some ratatouille?
Oh dear! Spaghetti Pie has been around forever – It was on of our offerings in my take out shop here in the midwest! We used a good Italian sausage in ours that turned it into a solid entree with a salad. It’s not haute for sure, but it is really good no matter how you make it.
Definitely a step up from the coquillettes-gruyère for the kids’ dinner ;)
David. I have been long-time fan and lurker on your blog – love your stories, and humour, and recipes. All menu plans for a relaxed dinner with my dad and his partner went out the window when i read this recipe. OH MY GOD! Knew this would be a hit with everyone, accompanied of course by a crisp salad! I made it with pecorino, Gouda and Jarlsberg a couple of hours ahead, put it (rather anxiously) in the fridge until it was time to bake it, but needn’t have worried. It was absolutely perfect, and didn’t even need to be finished off under the grill. How do you stop picking at something as good as this??? Thin slice after thin slice. Oh dear.
Thanks a million. I absolutely love your blog.
Rachel
Glad you liked it, too. I actually lopped off thin slices when it was in the refrigerator and snacked on it that way as well. Appreciate your feedback on the other kinds of cheese you used, too!
Love this, David. Brilliant and lovely. Many, many thanks for the kitchen inspiration as well as the link to our cacio e pepe recipe.
Bringing so many memories. My grandmother used to make a spaghetti casserole very similar to this pie or torte… She used a light bechamel and lots of Parmesan (back then you could not find many cheese varieties in my country) and pepper. This will go to our weekend rotation… Love your blog!
A question about step 4, please. There’s no cooking mentioned here. I’d assume we’re making a cheese sauce – that is, heating the milk and egg mixture then adding the cheese until it’s melted in. Yes?
HI Mark, The milk and eggs, and cheese, are mixed together but aren’t cooked to a sauce before baking. They bake/cook together with the pasta, in the oven.
Hi David, I grew up with this stuff, my mom used to make it at least once a week, not too much money at the time. She used a type of pasta that is very popular in Greece, long as spaghetti but with a hole in the middle, number 3 on the package, the same pasta we make Pastitsio. She used evaporated milk, eggs from the chickens in the garden, lots of Feta cheese and a hard cheese we make Saganaki (fried cheese). Some times she would put 3 pieces of Phyllo dough on the bottom of the pan, buttered each one of them, pour in the pasta mixture and topped it with another 3 pieces of Phyllo dough. That was the “glamorous”version… You brought back sweet memories of a wonderful pie and the smells from her kitchen. Thanks!
I am not knocking this, but isn’t it basically posh mac ‘n’ cheese?
Which is yummy, of course.
David, I’ve googled red pepper powder since we don’t use that term round these parts, and it seems to have a number of meanings from sweet to spicy. Do you mean it to be hot here (like what I would call cayenne)?
I don’t eat plain spaghetti these days, but I will give this a go with wholemeal spaghetti and see how it turns out. (I won’t ask you “Can I use wholemeal?” as when people ask about subs I always imagine you biting back the response “Why don’t you *%!# try it for yourself and find out?” – which in my view would be entirely justifiable:).
Red pepper powder is any dried powdered red pepper, and includes (but is not limited to), chipotle, cayenne, paprika, gochugaru (Korean pepper), and pimente d’Espelette (French). Each varies in heat, and sometimes smokiness, so you can use whichever appeals to you or what’s available.
(Chile powder is usually a mix of spices that contains red peppers, but has other seasonings in it, and isn’t the same thing.)
I love spaghetti pie and never see anyone making it! Thanks for sharing! This cacio e Pepe variation sounds delicious!
I can’t imagine you’d be anything but fun to talk to at a party, or anywhere for that matter! Hope you are feeling better soon. With all the bad news in the world I always look forward to your wonderful posts to remind me of the good …this pie will be our dinner tonight, thank you!
This looks good. I can’t find pecorino cheese in my area so I will probably have to substitute parmesan. Can’t wait to try it.
Some might just throw pie and torte out the window and call this mac n cheese…
I used to pack leftover spaghetti with tomato sauce into a loaf pan, chill overnight, then slice it up. The family used to love those slices in a picnic lunch. Later, I started frying them up for breakfast, served over dressed bitter/crunchy greens and topped with a fried or poached egg. I never in all these years thought about baking it with more cheese and serving as a hot main course! Where have I been? Don’t answer that. ;)
I have never seen or had anything that is looks like this. Closest would be lagsane but that isn’t really a pie per se. Interesting take on 2 of my favourite dishes.
I read this recipe on Friday and I made it on Saturday! I am Italian, so I love spaghetti in their usual way with cacio e pepe, but I found it very very good. Thank you David!
Ooh, I’ve been meaning to make one of these since I saw one on Smitten Kitchen. Delightful, and if it gets my toddler to eat eggs, I’ll be in heaven.
I would love to make this, but holey moley, that’s almost a cup of cheese per serving…
I sent the recipe to my wife and asked her what she thought. In a very animated tone she asked if I had read the list of ingredients? She mentioned that there would be almost a cup of cheese in each piece! I asked what was wrong with that?!? She replied that she wanted me to live long enough to visit France a few more times! Looks great but I don’t think we’ll be making spaghetti pie anytime soon!:(
CG and JHE: That’s 1 cup of shredded cheese, which contains a certain amount of air. Most cheeses are around 100 calories per ounce so 1 cup (~3 ounces) of cheese is 300 calories. That’s about the same as ground beef. If you eat a hamburger, you’re likely getting around the same amount of calories as the cheese in this dish. If you want, you can cut smaller portions of the pie and eat more salad.
Well said David! I always tell my students to cut down on portion, not flavor!
Oh my. And we were making noodle koogle…. enjoy a burger, a steak, a roast.
This is how to make a elegant, frugal., dinner. Enjoy the wine. Look around. Food is the escape.
David,
We immediately made this pie and it was delicious! We used Parmesan, Guyere and Fontina which was readily available. We didn’t need to pass it under the broiler as it was beautiful and browned after 30 minutes. We will make it again and again. Next time we plan to add bacon. Would that be overkill? No matter, we’ll try it anyway.
Every time I open my pantry door a 5 lb bag of spaghetti (thanks to my generous father in law) stares me in the face, begging for a more elegant demise than drowning in a jar of red sauce. I think this recipe will appease the pasta. If I may be so bold to make a salad suggestion for this lovely dish, my family loves arugula, pepitas and avocado tossed lightly in your French vinaigrette, which I have decided is the only dressing needed in my repertoire! Thank you for your wonderful blog…I live vicariously through your amazing recipes and photos. You are an inspiration to this pastry chef turned stay at home mom!
Thank you David for your version of this pie (I had clipped the Food and Wine one….but always reach for your recipes) I’d love to freeze this for a party 6 weeks from now….good to know you say we can!! Should I warm straight from the freezer or do I thaw before? Its sure to be a hit on the buffet table….I best make two!
Deb from Smitten Kitchen made this recently as well. Can’t wait to try both of your versions!
I made this using soy spaghetti (gluten-free) and with feta cheese and dill and nutmeg. A cross between quiche, mac-n-cheese, spanakopita, and fritatta. WOW. This can go in many different directions! Stupendously delicious.
Funny….Lucy just beat me to writing that Deb at SK posted almost exactly the same recipe. You mixed 3 cheeses and she added a cup of greens. I combined the two and my pie came out soooo good. (But what a mess my springform AND cookie sheet are-you really do need a serious wrap). It’s been raining non stop in SF and this was the perfect cozy yummy rainy evening treat.
I’ve been looking for a dish i can take to work, for a late morning get together. I wanted a pasta carbonara casserole, this fits the bill; I’ll just add bacon… yum! And garlic, lots of garlic.
Fairly ordinary ingredients and a relatively easy set of directions make this a recipe to try soon. Never heard of spaghetti pie before but it certainly looks good.
Had to come back to say that this was stunningly good. I made it to freeze and needed every piece so I knew I couldn’t eat any, yet I found myself continually prowling round it nicking little bits off the edge. I used a strong cheddar (because I never have any mild), gouda and parmesan (because I thought I had a hunk of pecorino in the fridge and it turned out we’d already scoffed it). And the wholemeal penne turned out fine! Thank you for another total winner. Oh, and I plan to steal your delightful phrase “carbo-forward”:).
David,
Please forgive my ignorance.
In the ingredients list for Spaghetti Pie you list the following:
3/4 cup (70g) finely grated pecorino cheese
3 cups (7 ounces, 200g) grated Comté or a Swiss-style cheese
3 cups (7 ounces, 200g) grated Fontina, or a similar semisoft cheese.
Do those measurements mean 70 grams of pecorino cheese should yield 3/4 cup of grated pecorino cheese after grating? That 7 ounces / 200 grams of Comté cheese when grated should yield three (3) cups of grated Comté cheese? That 7 oz / 200g Fontina cheese x grating = 3 C grated Fontina cheese?
Let me know, please.
Je te remercie encore pour un blog pratique, plus que beau (les photos n’ont pas d’égal), interessant (parfois étonnant) et international.
Nick Barknot
San Francisco, CA, USA
I use:
3/4 grated pecorino = 70 grams
1 cup cheese = about ~90 grams
We have similar dish like this, we call it noodle pizza. We usually cook it in a pan, with instant noodles, seasonings, eggs and flour.
Well, it’s pretty filling dish and it’s only need few minutes to cook.