Spaghetti Pizza for Two

 

I saw a recipe over on the Betty Crocker site last week that captured my eye.  Spaghetti Pizza.  It seemed very simple and it looked delicious.

Two things I really love in the food world are Pizza and Spaghetti.  The thought of both of them combined really made my mouth water and my tastebuds tingle.

 

I live with a partner who hates both of those things however.  That makes it difficult at times. He will eat it when push comes to shove. He has always been quite good that way.  I just don't like to feed him something I know he doesn't really like.

It goes against my principles as a wife and a homemaker. Call me old-fashioned if you must, but I was brought up in a home where the head of the household was very much catered to. Old habits die hard.

 I do cook and serve both of those things on occasion, but only in small amounts.  The recipe on the Betty Crocker site serves 8 people. We are only two.

I decided to adapt the recipe to a size that feeds only two people. Not only that, I created a delicious sauce of my own rather than use bottled marinara sauce. Not that there is not great bottled marinara sauce out there, but its so simple to make your own so why not!

 I also created some tasty cheesy garlic bread to serve on the side using the stale end of a loaf of bread.  It already had a crust on it, so why not!  (My father loves to make toast with the heel of the loaf. He calls it crispy toast.) 

I simply spread it with softened butter and sprinkled it with Italian Garlic Seasoning. I also added a layer of grated mozzarella and Parmesan, prior to baking it in a hot oven for about 5 to 8 minutes.

 My mother always cooked to please my father.  He had very simple tastes. He was never fond of casseroles and he insisted he only liked his food seasoned with salt and pepper because that is what his mother used. B O R I N G

She did used to make what she called "Italian Spaghetti." It was usually on the menu at least once a week. My father liked Italian Spaghetti.

Her idea of Italian Spaghetti involved browning a pound of cheap ground beef in a skillet. (Ugh!)  Then she would add a can of Catelli spaghetti sauce, (double ugh!!) and heat it through.

This would be served on what was undoubtedly over-cooked spaghetti noodles. In rerospect, I don't think the cook time was ever paid attention to or followed.  Those were the times we were living in.

We had never been to Italy. We didn't even know any Italians. Our expectations were low.  It was considered quite edible by the majority of the family and when you added some smelly sock cheese from the green plastic tube, it was considered downright exotic! 

I could never abide my spaghetti with meat sauce. I liked it with tomato sauce alright, but mom never paid for quality ground beef and so it was always quite fatty and filled with things like gristle, etc.

 If even a morsel of that touched my teeth I was off to the gagging races.  I have a very strong gag reflex.  At the end of dinner my plate would be filled with little pieces of hamburger. 

I was an expert at routing out ground beef.  From anything.  Even macaroni. I would get it out of the holes. It would all end up lined up on my plate, which would annoy my father to no end. He considered it wasteful.

 Anyways, after a time, my mom decided that rather than force me to eat what I simply couldn't stand, she would save me some of the sauce aside without any meat in it. For years that is how I enjoyed my spaghetti.

I am always very grateful for a mother who went to great length to please all of us as best as she could. As an adult I learned how very good spaghetti with meat sauce,  or Spaghetti Bolognese, could be.  Especially if you used a quality ground beef.

With a sauce made from scratch, not out of a tin.  And with real grated Parmesan Cheese, not smelly sock from a green plastic tube. 

We are relatively spoiled in these modern times.  Some of the best ingredients and foods in the world are readily available to us. We really shouldn't take any of it for granted.  All  of us are only one ecological disaster away from hunger. We should never forget that.

 Anyways, this Spaghetti Pizza doesn't have a meat sauce. It has a simple stir-together flavour filled sauce that goes together in a flash.  You can pronounce all of its ingredients as well.

The spaghetti is perfectly cooked al dente and then tossed together with three cheeses and some egg and milk before it is poured into a small rimmed baking sheet.

 

This gets baked for a short time and then it gets topped with the sauce, more cheese and some pepperoni, until being baked again.  Not for too long, jus long enough to get everything bubbling and the cheese melted. 

You do get a few crispy bits of spaghetti around the edges. I don't mind that in the least. I rather like the crispy bits.

 I could not resist cutting it into wedges. I have to say this was quite, quite QUITE delicious! If you wanted to add a meat sauce or crumbled cooked sausage or beef you certainly could instead of just having a tomato sauce.

I thought that it was just right as it was, with the cheese and a few slices of spicy pepperoni on top. Not something I eat very often, but I do like pepperoni on things like this and we can get really good Italian pepperoni over here in the UK.

 I did add a delicious green salad on the side as a nod to healthy eating. It was filled with cucumber, broccoli, edamame, peas, grated courgettes,beans and spinach, with a healthy sprinkling of toasted pumpkin seeds.
  

It was a ready salad, M&S.  Their salads are always nice.

I am not always a hedonist.  Sometimes I can actually eat something which is good for me, and today, aside from the cheesy garlic bread, I did.

Spaghetti Pizza for Two

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Yield: 2

Author: Marie Rayner

prep time: 10 Mincook time: 35 Mintotal time: 45 Min

A scaled down version of a delicious old family favourite. It boasts a flavour filled spaghetti base topped with a rich sauce, three cheeses and pepperoni.

Ingredients

For the Spaghetti:

• 4 ounces (115g) uncooked spaghetti
• 1/4 cup (60ml) whole milk
• 1 small free range egg
• 1/4 sp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 cup (35g) grated mozarella cheese
• 1/4 cup (30g) grated strong cheddar cheese
• 2 TBS finely grated Parmesan cheese

For the sauce:

• 1 cup (240ml) tomato sauce (passata)
• 1 TBS Tomato puree (tomato paste)
• 1/4 tsp each salt and black pepper
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp fennel seed, crushed
• pinch ground cloves

You will also need for topping:

• 1/4 cup (35g) grated mozarella cheese
• 1/4 cup (30g) grated strong cheddar cheese
• 2 TBS finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 8 thin slices of pepperoni

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.  Butter a rimmed baking sheet, approximately 7 by 9 inches in size.  Set aside.
2. Cook the spaghetti in a pot of lightly salted boiling water to al dente according to the package directions.  Drain well and rinse with cold water to cool down. Cool the saucepan down with cold water and drain well.  Beat the egg, milk, seasonings and cheeses for the spaghetti base together in the saucepan.  Add the spaghetti and toss together to combine.  Pour this mixture into the prepared baking tin, spreading it out evenly.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
4. While it is baking whisk together all of your sauce ingredients. Tase and adjust seasoning as desired.  Remove the pan from the oven and spread this sauce evenly over top of the spaghetti.
5. Mix together the cheeses for the topping. Sprinkle evenly over top of the spaghetti and sauce.  Place the pepperoni slices on top.
6. Bake for an additional 20 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and everything is heated through.  Serve immediately.

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