A new twist on Prince spaghetti day

I might be dating myself, but for those of you who don't remember, Wednesdays were always Prince spaghetti days, according to their ads on television....Anyway, last night I made a spaghetti pie!  It actually came out delicious, but I have to warn you, clean-up was a chore...I used a lot of bowls and pans to put this one together! 

  

I started out by cooking some whole wheat angel hair pasta.  Once that was done, I drained it and left it to cool.  Meanwhile, I cooked up some ground beef and vidalia onions. Once those were cooked, I turned off the heat and added a jar of tomato pasta sauce, fresh mushrooms, fresh basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, and fresh arugula!  (Normally I would have added fresh spinach, but I had none, so I thought the arugula might add an interesting peppery taste.)

Once the pasta had cooled, I added an egg white and Parmesan cheese.  I took a large round pan and molded the pasta to resemble a pie crust.  Third step and 4 bowls later, you will mix about 1/2 of a large container of ricotta cheese with the egg yoke, yet more Parmesan cheese, salt & pepper, and some parsley.  Spread this over the pasta crust.

Last step?  yup, you guessed it.  Spoon the meat sauce into the pasta crust.  Grate some cheese on top, cover with foil and cook at 375 for 30 minutes.  Take the foil off for the last 10 minutes or so, and voila!  This really did taste yummy, especially with the arugula. 

The good thing about this dish is that you could get as far as the pasta crust and the ricotta filling, then you could make a different sauce, maybe a seafood sauce consisting of shrimp, scallops, cherry tomatoes (uncooked), spinach,and maybe clams in a creamy, cheesy sauce (you would have to add a touch of sherry, and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper of course!)  Pour this over the top, grate the cheese and bake...  yum!  In other words, use your imagination and add ingredients that you love!