One Friend's Recipe for Spaghetti Pie (Soooo Good)

1. Pie plate. The deeper the better. That's why we used this disposable one. Because my glass ones are very shallow.

Yours doesn't have to be leftover from the pastry shell somebody (cough, cough, not me, cough, cough) bought at Christmastime instead of making it from scratch. But if it is, you can ignore the printing on the bottom.

I'm pretty sure that's just talking about the (ahem) store-bought food that used to be inside.

2. Spaghetti.

Regular old spaghetti. Not thin or fancy. 1/2 box (i.e. 1/2 lb.). Drain. Don't rinse.

3. Eggs & butter.

2 & 1 (tablespoon, that is). Plus Parmesan cheese that I forgot to take a pitcure of. The cheapy-shake kind. You could probably use the real kind and shave it yourself if you want to, but why bother? Use about 1/3 cup. I think. But One Friend is still sleeping, so I'll double-check that amount with her when she wakes up. [She says yeah, 1/4, or 1/2, or 1/3, or whatever.]

3. Stir spaghetti into egg mixture. I also forgot to take a picture of this.

4. Spaghetti --> pan.

Press it around (with a fork! it's hot!) to make it sort of like a shell. It won't really work, so just give up when you get frustrated.

5. Cottage cheese.

About a cup. If you live in Massachusetts, I'm going to have to insist that you use Hood Lowfat, because all the other brands are just disgusting. But if you live elsewhere and can't get your hands on Hood, then I'm willing to forgive. You cook it anyway, so your guests will probably never know the difference.

6. Meanwhile: Veggies!

About a pound of whatever's in the fridge all chopped up and sauteed with olive oil. You could also use meat instead. Or with. Or whatever. Make a filling, is what I'm getting at.

7. Sauce it up.

One Friend makes her own using canned tomatoes and spices and tomato paste. When she goes home and I make this for myself, I will use sauce from a jar. If you tell her, I will kill you.

8. Slop it in.

Mmmm... Steamy....

You'll notice this is all overfilled like any good pie should be. Hence the cookie sheet it's resting on. You don't want to mess up your nice new oven.

9. And shut up about the messy oven.

10. Mozzarella Cheese.

Loads of it. This is not all of it. Keep going. More. More. More!

More.

Okay, you're done.

11.

12. Yummy yum yum yummy!

If you're smart, you'll let it sit five minutes or so before you cut it, to let it sort of grab on to itself. We didn't. Tastes just as good all piled in a gooey mess as it does in nice firm slices.

Tune in later for the answers to Ask Dr. One Friend. Plus questions of my own because I am obviously curiouser (and curiouser) than most of you good people.

Hm. Maybe I better go check on the cat.