Deep Dish Pasta Pizza Pie

Deep Dish Pasta Pizza Pie

I have had this bookmark from the Noblepig.com for a similar recipe and today I decided to make it. I cannot begin to tell you how EASY this recipe is.

Today was my first day at work after my 2 year review that went AWESOME! I was in a great mood and my boss topped it off by sending me to my old dept. to help out (I miss it!). I stopped at The Butera on the way home from work and picked up the ingredients that I THOUGHT were in the recipe. When I got home, the Internet was down so I totally winged the recipe and it turned out great.

Before we start...you need a 9in spring form pan for this recipe...1lb of noodles fit perfectly. This recipe is totally flexible. You can make it without meat or ricotta. Basically you can make it however you want!

You need...
1 1lb bag of rigatoni noodles (the tubes that are flat on both ends)
1 lg can of tomato sauce OR crushed tomatoes (I think the big cans are 32oz, not chunky at all)
1 small container of ricotta cheese (about 16oz)
1 small 2c. bag of shredded mozz cheese
1lb of ground beef (or loose Italian sausage)
a bunch of basil leaves, chopped (use as many as you want...I used about 20 leaves!)
salt,pepper,oregano,garlic powder to taste (or real garlic which I forgot)


Simple...
Cook noodles 3/4 of the way, drain, set aside.
Brown 1lb of meat and try to break it up as small as possible.
In a small pot add the can of tomatoes, meat, basil, salt, pepper, garlic...eyeball it!
Spray a 9 inch springform with cooking spray and line the sides with strips of parchment paper or tinfoil to make removal less sticky.
Place noodles, on end, in the pan...1lb should fill 9in pan perfectly.
Spoon half the sauce mix over the pasta and push into noodles with a flat spoon...bang the pan on the counter to force the sauce down...this takes patience, but it is possible.
Spoon ricotta cheese over noodles and do same thing...again, patience and banging.
Spoon remaining sauce over noodles and do same thing...you should be able to get 80% of sauce in noodles...bang on counter ALOT and it will work!
Top with mozz cheese and put in oven at 350 for approx 30min. or until it looks nice and crispy on the edges...I put it under the broiler for the last few minutes.

Pop the springform pan open and, lo and behold, you have a Deep Dish Pasta Pizza Pie!