Food & Drink

MACARONI PIE

| ERA

GREAT RECIPE FOR LEFTOVER PASTA

Macaroni Pie is the perfect recipe when you have leftover pasta. It doesn’t matter whether the pasta was served with sauce, butter, veggies or meat—it is all going in the pie. I list the bare minimum in spices but feel free to use any you like based on the type of sauce your pasta was originally served with. I might be heavier on the basil if my pasta has red sauce and possibly coriander for pasta with chicken. Rigatoni or large square pasta will not work as well as something smaller like elbows, spaghetti, wagon wheels, ziti or any smaller variety.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/4 lb Leftover pasta [use whatever you have] 
  • 5 eggs at room temperature 
  • salt & pepper
  • garlic & onion powder
  • 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella or other cheese that melts well
  • 2 oz parmesan cheese

VARIATIONS:

You can add diced leftover meat as well as any cooked vegetables chopped and mixed into the pasta. My original pasta for this recipe was made with cauliflower sautéed in butter and one thinly sliced left-over breaded pork chop.

DIRECTIONS:

  • Set leftover pasta aside to reach to room temperature
  • Mix the eggs well with all ingredients but pasta
  • Heat non-stick pan and drizzle with a little oil
  • Keep pan on medium heat.
  • When pan is very hot add the pasta and work with a wooden spoon to make it the shape of the pot.
  • Then use the spoon to move the pasta away from the sides of the pan. Do this for a minute and then pour the egg mixture on top. The mixture will settle in between the pieces of pasta. Cook on a medium heat moving the pie a bit so it doesn’t stick. At about 20 minutes, when the pie is almost cooked through put a plate on top of the pan and turn over. Then return to the pan so that opposite side will brown. The second side will cook more quickly probably 10 minutes. Pie should be lightly browned on both sides. 

After trying this recipe come back and leave comments for other ingredients or changes you experimented with.

Meat and spinach loaf

| ERA

This is one of my favorite recipes. It creates two good-sized meat loaves. You can also cut the recipe in half for one loaf. But, this freezes very well so you might just want to make the larger recipe for your family or you can share with those less fortunate.

INGREDIENTS
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1 lb ground veal
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup onion, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 2 lbs of fresh baby spinach [substitute available below]
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped celery [substitute available below]
  • 1 cup parsley
  • 3/4 cup whole or low fat milk
  • 1 cup bread crumbs [substitute available below]
  • 2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
  • Salt to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 4 eggs lightly beaten
  • 1 lb bacon
  • 1 stick of butter [salted or unsalted]
  • 5 large Vidalia onions [optional and used for topping]
PREPARATION
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Heat the butter in a small pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook until wilted. Set aside and let cool.
  3. Saute or steam the spinach. When cooked put in a strainer and press down on spinach to remove as much water as possible. Then chop the spinach. Set aside and let cool.
  4. Put the chopped celery, parsley and milk in an electric blender and blend well. Set aside.
  5. Place all meat in very large oval bowl. Add the spinach, bread crumbs, salt to taste, pepper and nutmeg.
  6. Add the eggs to the meat mix and blend well.
  7. Add the celery, parsley, milk mixture and blend well.
  8. Add the spinach and blend well.
  9. Divide the meat in half and place half on large piece of wax paper. Roll to create a loaf and place in large pan. Do the same with the other half of meat.
  10. Wrap bacon around each loaf.
  11. Cook until internal temperature of loaves reaches 170.
  12. While meat loaves are cooking, slice the 5 large onions. Put in a large pan with stick of butter and cook until browned about 20 minutes or so.
  13. Drain all the fat from the pan and let meat loaves sit for 10 minutes before slicing.
  14. Slice meatloaf and serve with onions on top.
NOTES

Possible Substitutes: 

Cooked chopped broccoli florets instead of spinach
Finely chopped carrots instead of celery or a mix of both
Panko instead of bread crumbs
Low fat milk instead of whole milk