Mmmm..Pasta Pie

PASTA PIE
Editor:Alexis Popov
Copyright, 2008 Maria Liberati, The Basic Art of Italian Cooking
https://www.marialiberati.com
Before guests sit down to dinner, it is customary to put out picky stuff, typically cheese and crackers, for them to nibble on while they sip their wine. Although cheese and crackers may be an oblivious and easy choice for a pre-meal snack, especially since you’ve already been slaving over the stove all day to prepare dinner, they are boring. So next time you’re playing hostess for a group of your friends try something new, like a macaroni pie. ‘Pasta pie’ is a delicious mixture of fettuccini noodles, dried hot sausage, eggs, ricotta and pecorino cheeses, and parsley, all of which is mixed together in one bowl to keep your efforts and clean up to a minimum. If some of your guests are watching their cholesterol or calories you can substitute half the eggs for egg whites or use skim-milk cheeses to cut down the less than heart friendly fats. So for your next dinner party, bake up a ‘pasta pie’ and dazzle your guests with a creative and new alternative to Ritz crackers and cheddar cheese.
Pasta Pie:
1 lb fettuccine pasta
8 eggs or 4 whole eggs and 4 egg whites
1 lb ricotta-whole milk, fresh ,or part skim
4 oz mozzarella-whole or part skim milk
2/3 cup dried hot sausage or soy sausage
pecorino cheese and parsley to taste
Mix eggs, ricotta, mozzarella, and sausage in a large mixing bowl.  Cook pasta until it is almost al dente, you want them to be slightly harder as they will cook more in the over.  Mix the noodles with other ingredients, add pecorino cheese and parsley and place everything in a baking pan.
Bake at 425 for about a half hour or until the top is slightly brown or put under broiler for final 3 minutes of baking.
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