Creamy Spasagna with Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Spasagna is an alternative way of making lasagna using baked spaghetti instead of lasagna sheets.
This meal turned out rich, creamy and difficult to stop eating.
It is quite a time consuming recipe, but well worth that bit of extra effort, and it makes enough for at least 8 people.
Preparation Time: 55 minutes
Cooking Time: 2 hours (this CAN be shortened)
Makes: 8 - 10 servings
Ingredients
For the spaghetti sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
3- 5 shallots, chopped
Chorizo (optional)
½ red capsicum, chopped finely
500 g best mince
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
200 g mushrooms, sliced
100 g tomato paste
420 g tin chopped tomatoes
425 g jar Latina fresh creamy sun-dried tomato (or you could use another tin tomatoes instead)
Bit of red wine (optional)
Tomato Passata (optional)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried thyme
¾ cup beef stock
½ tbsp brown sugar
For the spaghetti
450 g spaghetti, cooked and drained
225 g cream cheese, at room temperature
200 g sour cream
225 g cottage cheese
About 1 cup cheese, grated
Method
For the spaghetti sauce
Heat the oil and add the chopped shallots. Cook for a few minutes and add the chorizo and garlic and cook for another few minutes.
Add the mince and cook, breaking up, until it is browned. If there is a lot of liquid, empty some of it, but if using the best mince, there is little liquid.
Add the tomato paste, red capsicum, and spices and cook for a minute, stirring.
Add the tomatoes, Latina sun dried tomato, beef stock, sugar, red wine and mushrooms.
Stir until it is all combined and bring to the boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer for at least an hour - I simmered for about 1½ hours. It will appear quite liquid to begin with but this thickens up as you go on simmering. If cooking this long you will probably have to add some passata as mine actually got a bit dry.
This part can be made up to 3 days ahead.
For the spaghetti
Mix the cream cheese, cottage cheese, and sour cream in a medium bowl until it is smooth, and creamy. Add some salt and pepper to taste.
Add half the cheese mixture to the still warm or hot spaghetti, and mix so that the spaghetti is well coated.
Preheat the oven to 180°/160° fan forced.
In a 35 cm x 26 cm baking dish (or approximately this size), grease with olive oil or some butter, including the sides, and put half the spaghetti mixture into this.
Add the rest of the cheese mixture and a bit of grated cheese. Try to smooth the cheese as much as you can over the spaghetti.
Add half the meat sauce and press down so the spaghetti is well packed.
Add another layer of the spaghetti, the rest of the cheese mixture and the rest of the meat mixture.
Press down again, and add the balance of the grated cheese on the top.
Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.
Allow to stand for several minutes and cut into squares - DELICIOUS!
I served it the second night with broccoli and curled the raw carrot.
This would also be great for party food, at room temperature, cut into bite sized pieces.
Categories
#family_meal
#party_food
#dinner
#lunch
#snack
#mince_meat
#spaghetti
#pasta
#chorizo
#tomatoes
#pasta_sauce
#mushrooms
%recipeyum
227664 - 2023-07-17 10:30:29