Pasta Pie

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After much cajoling, helpful nudging and threats, I am finally posting our Pasta Pie recipe. I appreciate all the interest after my wife’s set up post. Thanks for the requests and reminders from our social network of friends.

But truly, how can I say no to her?

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Hey Abba, how about using that green box of pasta? Pleeaassee!

The recipe is super simple, so I should be smacked in the head for taking 3,000 months to post this. Like my daughter suggests, cook a pound of Rigatoni per instructions. Also, preheat your oven to 350.

You will also need:

Marinara sauce: I prefer our recipe, of course
And, 1 batch of our creamy soy cheese

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Next up, add 1/2 tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive oil to a 9″ spring form pan and coat the bottom and sides.

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When the pasta is cooked, strain and cool down with cold water.
The pasta doesn’t have to be cooled all the way through, only if you have soft and sensitive baby hands like me.

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Start stacking. In the spring form pan, stack each noodle upright. This is probably the most time consuming part…but, patience, young grasshopper. The effort will be worth it.

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There you go, wasn’t that fun?

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Next, ladle on your marinara sauce. Spread the sauce around carefully, and try your best to fill all the individual rigatoni tubes with sauce.

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That looks pretty good. You may not be able to fill all the holes, but that’s alright. We have the creamy soy cheese to help fill in the blanks.

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Pour on the soy cheese and spread evenly over the top.

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Sprinkle a little parsley and for an extra (un-pictured) bonus add some sliced tomatoes on top.

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Time to bake. I suggest placing the spring form pan on top of a sheet pan or in my case a flat cast iron skillet. This will catch any saucy drips that may try to escape. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

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You’ll know it’s done when the cheese just begins to brown.

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Unlatch and remove the side of the spring form pan.

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Slice and serve.

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And your results:

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Happy children! It could be the joy of eating pasta with chopsticks, but I think it’s my cooking.

What do you think, my love?

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Uhhh, Naptime!