Every now & then I stumble across a recipe about a spaghetti tart or bake or … What I mean is a dish – served warm as well as cold – where cooked spaghetti are mixed with meat or vegetables or cheese or whatever & become covered by a mix of cream & eggs ready for a session in the oven. The result is some sort of quiche/tart/frittata … which may be cut into slices like a cake.
I thought time has come to give it a try.
Obviously at the end we’ll have a rather big result feeding more than only my better half & me. So I hoped that it might be possible to store it in the fridge or even in the freezer. (Yes: it’s fine in the fridge – alas it never made it into the freezer …)
Furthermore I had to decide which way to go …
We are generally always on our way w/ quiche, tart, frittata … In a certain way it’s always the same procedure:
- you get the bottom filled w/ some solid stuff
- you get some filling stuff
- you get some mixture which thickens when baking & holds it all together in the end.
For this planned spaghetti affair I thought of something like a sort of quiche.
What do we need?
… in the style of quiche:
- spaghetti for the bottom
- spring onions, bacon & cheese for the filling
- eggs & crème fraîche for the mixture
- … & some fresh thyme for the flavour.
Let’s start w/ grating the cheese; it’s real Gruyère. Then the bacon (South-Tyrolean bacon it is) & the spring onions will be finely chopped.
… & don’t forget to preheat the oven to 160°C w/ fan.
In the meantime the spaghetti should be cooking – stop as soon as they are very al dente. Then drain them & rinse w/ cold water. Get a casserole ready & arrange the spaghetti on the bottom – as evenly as possible.
Fry the spring onions & the bacon in some olive oil. Distribute evenly over the spaghetti.
Whip the eggs & mix w/ the crème fraîche. Add salt & pepper to taste & mix in the finely chopped fresh thyme leaves.
… well: we are still in Northern Spain – so I worked with Spanish ingredients like Jamón Serrano & young Manchego as well as white onions & dried herbs (herbs of Provence).
Sprinkle the gruyère all over the spaghetti. Then pour the egg mix on top. It’s quite useful to press the mess down – a little to make sure that the egg mix distributes all over the casserole.
I worked w/ a rather small amount of egg mix i. e. the egg mix didn’t cover all the spaghetti. It is possible – w/o question – to prepare some more egg mix so that the spaghetti are fully covered.
In my case the spaghetti on top became rather crunchy – which we liked. If using more egg mix the spaghetti will stay in the mix … no crunchy spaghetti on top.
Put the casserole in the preheated oven for about 40 min until the spaghetti get crunchy & the egg mix is stiff.
It’s a rich spaghetti quiche which will make up to 12 slices (or even more!).
The spaghetti – inside – are soft & smooth. The main flavour comes from the cheese & the bacon as well as the thyme. Seen overall it’s a very delicate flavour.
When leaving the oven & after some cooling the spaghetti will be really crunchy.
Some hours later – when cooled down & covered for storing – the crispiness will vanish: especially after a day in the fridge the top layer will get as soft as the rest.
You may serve the spaghetti quiche hot (out of the oven) w/ some mixed green salad, warm (i. e. reheated in the microwave) for dinner or so… or just cold. It’s fine when it’s cold: it’s not greasy!
Enjoy!
- 200 g spaghetti
- 4-5 spring onions
- 50 g South-Tyrolean bacon
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 200 g crème fraîche
- 6 eggs
- 50 g Gruyère
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves (heaped)
- some olive oil for the casserole
- salt & pepper
- an egg whisk
- a cheese grater
- a casserole about 26 cm Ø
- Preheat the oven to 160° C w/ fan.
- Cook the spaghetti for about 4-5 min (very al dente!), drain them & arrange the spaghetti in the oiled casserole.
- Chop the bacon as well as the spring onions (rather finely!).
- Proceed alike for the fresh thyme leaves & set aside.
- Fry the bacon & the spring onions in olive oil for 4-5 min.
- Distribute over the spaghetti layer.
- Grate the Gruyère (roughly) & distribute over the bacon layer.
- Grab an egg whisk & mix the crème fraîche w/ the eggs.
- Add salt & pepper to taste.
- Add the finely chopped fresh thyme leaves.
- Pour the mix over everything & press slightly – try to cover the spaghetti layer w/ the egg mix.
- Put it in the oven for about 40 min; the mix should become stiff.
