This Recipe Looks Delicious

[chochiyo_sama]

 Million Dollar Baked Spaghetti

1 pound spaghetti noodles

1 pound ground beef

24 ounces spaghetti sauce                                                                     

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup sour cream

1 cup cottage cheese

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 9x13” baking dish with non-stick spray

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook spaghetti for one minute less than the package directions state.  Drain the water from the pasta. 

While the spaghetti is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown the beef, crumbling it as it cooks.  Drain the fat and add the marinara sauce to the meat.  Simmer over low heat until the spaghetti is ready.

In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, and garlic until smooth, creamy, and well combined.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Place half of the cooked spaghetti in the bottom of the baking dish.  Dollop half of the cream cheese mixture over the spaghetti and spread as evenly as possible.  Spread with half of the meat mixture.  Repeat the layers once and top with cheddar cheese.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

 

Comments

[cmcmck]

Replace beef with mixed mushrooms and I'm with you! :o)

[the_godiva]

It might be OK but it's certainly not Italian. No Italian would use sour cream or cream cheese but I suppose those are needed for baking.

If the canned spaghetti sauce didn't sink it it has no Italian cheeses at all. No ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan or Romano.

I'd rather go just a big farther and make a true lasagna.

This does remind me a bit of the way they used to make spaghetti at the middle school I worked at close to my house. Probably the last years that they actually cooked in the cafeteria. They used to get a lot of surplus government hamburger and especially cheese. The cheese enchiladas were fabulous as was the mac n cheese and grilled cheese. They used the same cheese for the spaghetti which took a lot of getting used to but they did it in the oven. Made a meat sauce, boiled spaghetti, then mixed it all and put it in a pan, covered it with shredded cheese, some sort of orange cheese which could have been cheddar, jack or American. If I could get a scoop with a lot of cheese on it, I'd eat it but otherwise, just pasta and meat sauce I'd pass.

I did love those enchiladas, mac n cheese and grilled cheese. I would check the menu and sign up for any day that had those.

[cmcmck]

Although they might use ricotta or marscapone which are equivalent and what I would use in this dish.

And I certainly would be making my own sauce- all you need as a base is a tin of chopped tomatoes!

[the_godiva]

True. Cottage cheese is the poor man's ricotta, but in my mouth not an adequate substitute. Same goes for cream cheese for mascarpone. But I would really miss the mozzarella.

The canned sauces always need doctoring. While I add basil and oregano sometimes I also add a bit of red wine and sometimes even a little parmesan. Garlic powder depending on what sauce I am using as a base. Salt and pepper on the hamburger as it is being browned and if available maybe a little pork sausage too. (I know you don't do meat but I'm sure you have a veggie substitute for your sauce.)

I suppose it's the sour cream and cheddar that really takes this out of the Italian spaghetti world for me. In which case, why not just use elbow noodles or any other pasta and call it some sort of hot dish. With the cheddar you could call it Wisconsin Hot Dish.