Meatball Pie

I have a feeling you aren't going to see much of me around here this month! I normally like to start Christmas shopping a few months early, but this year we had to wait until December for a bonus, and so we've been cramming everything in since then. 2 more weeks... I think we can do it!

I pulled out some old photos of a "Meatball Pie" that I never shared because the recipe still needs some work and I'll be cooking it very differently next time. Years ago I bookmarked a simpler 'spaghetti pie' that used noodles, egg, and cheese, and then was cut into wedges to serve. When I saw this version topped with caramelized onions, ricotta, tomato sauce, and frozen meatballs (and other yumminess), I had to try it right away!



The first time I followed the recipe pretty closely, but there was too much pasta (which was also really dry), and a lot of unnecessary steps that made things overly complex. So this time I simplified things a bit and added a little sauce to the pasta, but as you can see below it did not hold it's shape very well!



Next time around I'm thinking of just baking the crust in the oven and heating up everything else on the stove to pour over the 'pie' wedges. Hopefully it will be easier to serve up this way, and it will lower the cooking time dramatically! We do have another spaghetti casserole that we love (cream cheese and french fried onions), but both of these are definitely worth keeping around.