It is the depth of winter and the days are shaded, casting colours of dark. White, blue and grey during the day and star gazed purple and sapphire blue during the night. The chill is gripping and while there is joy in taking a deep air-crisp fresh breath and listening to a solitary bird song singing the spring to come during the early morning hours we still hurry to get in doors, set the fire roaring and steep a honey sweetened cup of tea, rather then venturing for long hours in the outside.
Deep winter days, call for deep flavour winter dishes. The kind that warm the heart inside out, the kind that cast mouth watering aromas like a blanket, the kind that build the inner walls of our resilience with richness and sustenance.
This Million Dollar Spaghetti recipe is just the kind. Cheesy Carbonara like spaghetti base, layered with Bolognese sauce and topped with melting mozzarella cheese to perfection. A dish that will set your senses reeling, sampling spoonful after spoonful, endless times.
{The original recipe is from the Half Baked Harvest food blog by Tieghan Gerard.}
Ingredients
- 1 package of spaghetti
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup whole milk cottage cheese
- 1 package cream cheese, softened
- 500g minced meat
- 3 cups tomato sauce, homemade or store-bought (in this recipe – 1 Bertolli jar)
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup gratin cheese
- olive oil
- black pepper
- salt
Method
1. Start by boiling water in a deep pot. Once the water is slightly simmering add the spaghetti broken into pieces. Add a few drops of basil flavoured olive oil and some salt. Leave the spaghetti to boil until soft.
2. In the meantime, prepare the sauce Bolognese: heat a table spoon of olive oil in a deep pot over a medium heat. Add the minced meat and let it baked until the meat has changed its colour from pink to dark brown. Season with salt and black pepper. Add the tomato sauce and let it simmer for additional 5 minutes until all flavours are well infused.
3. Once the spaghetti have boiled, drain the water and poor the spaghetti in a deep oven pan on a low heat. Add three table spoons of butter and mix well. In the meantime whisk together the four eggs and mix well with the grated Parmesan cheese and the chopped parsley. Add the egg mixture to the spaghetti and mix well. Add the cottage cheese and the cream cheese and mix until well combined. Let the spaghetti simmer for a few minutes until the sauce ha thickened a bit. Season with black pepper and salt if needed.
4. Level the spaghetti mixture and poor over the sauce Bolognese spreading it evenly. Arrange on top with gratin cheese and pieces thinly cut mozzarella. Set the dish in a preheated oven to 225C and let the cheese melt, forming a light brown colour (approximately 20-30 minutes). Take out of the oven and spread freshly cut parsley on top before serving.
