© David Loftus
special spaghetti cake
method
I discovered this dish in Italy while working on my Italian book. When full of ham, chicken and mushrooms, its called tetrazzini. Try my lighter vegetarian version.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. In a large bowl beat the double cream and eggs with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Add the grated Cheddar, most of the smelly cheese, the spinach, chilli, sun-dried tomatoes and the cooked spaghetti. Gently stir to mix well.
Melt the butter in an ovenproof frying pan, around 11inches in diameter, and swirl it around so the base of the pan is nicely coated. Slowly pour in the spaghetti mixture and shake the pan to even the mixture out. Bake in the hot oven for 30 minutes until it starts to crisp on top. At this point, take it out of the oven and use the back of a spoon to make small indents into the top of the bake. Toss the sage leaves in a little olive oil then press one into each dip with a small cube of the remaining cheese on top.
Return to the oven and cook for 10 more minutes until crisp. Remove and leave to rest for a few minutes. Serve in lovely wedges with a fresh green salad on the side.
serves: 8-10
ingredients
600ml double cream
4 large eggs, preferably free-range or organic
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
100g mature Cheddar cheese, grated
100g mixed smelly cheese (e.g Brie, Stilton or goats cheese), cubed
2 large handfuls of baby spinach, washed, spun dry and roughly chopped
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
½ x 280g jar of sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and roughly chopped
400g just-cooked spaghetti
a knob of butter
a few sprigs of fresh sage, leaves picked