Baked Spaghetti Pie is a Pasta Lover’s Fantasy
I live in a house divided.
For one of us, no phrase could be more beautiful than baked spaghetti pie; the ultimate diet is pasta for every meal of every day; and the grand fantasy is to live in the children’s book Strega Nona, in which a town is overtaken with macaroni and a little boy named Big Anthony has to eat it all.
Oh, you want red sauce?
The other one of us (fine, it’s me) would prefer to eat sweet potatoes every night and have pasta once or twice a month.
But that changed when I met this new recipe from senior food editor Claire Saffitz for Baked Pasta alla Norma—saucy, cheesy, and hiding bits of tender eggplant, with a Medusa vibe and an irresistible, fight-over-it crust. (It’s called Norma, if you’re wondering, because its excellence is comparable to that of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera by the same name.) It’s got all of pasta’s best qualities—lots of carbs, a fun eating experience, an inherent comfiness—but it’s more an ooh-ahh, must-have-that spectacular than a bowl of noodles.
And it doesn’t take much more effort. While you wait for the pasta water to boil, you’ll make the “alla norma” part of the recipe by roasting eggplant, cherry tomatoes, and smashed garlic in a big skillet the oven. Make sure that the tomatoes burst: Their juices, when combined with a heap of grated Parmesan, a couple beaten eggs, and a squeeze of tomato paste, form the sauce that coats the spaghetti and keeps it from drying out. Once the vegetables are out of the oven and the pasta is cooked—use any shape you’d like (campanelle, conchiglie, rigatoni), though the drama of long, swirly noodles is unbeatable—all that’s left to do is toss everything together, press the pasta back into that big skillet, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
Now normally I turn my nose up at such a long wait time, but it actually affords the opportunity to do the dishes, which means I can get into bed sooner after the meal is over.
Beyond that, spaghetti pie, rather than ordinary spaghetti, is less time-sensitive. Whereas most sauced pastas are demanding (especially the eggy and/or cheesy variations, which will lose their creamy sheen in a matter of minutes), this pie is stable: You don’t have to rush to serve and eat it, and it’s even better the next day.
You may lose those coveted crispy edges, but I recommend heating some olive oil in a heavy skillet and frying up a thick slice until the crust is brown and glistening. Maybe sizzle an egg while you’re at it. Pasta pie for breakfast? I must be a true convert.
Get the recipe:
Baked Pasta alla Norma
