Jessica Seinfeld - Rainy Day Spaghetti Pie from Deceptively Delicious

Its an rainy day during Sydney's Winter that I decide that the Spaghetti Pie recipe will get an look in. There's nothing better than being inside when its raining and it becomes a little more gratifying when there's something delicious smelling in the oven.

Being particularly time poor that day, I short cut the meatballs by using Chevups skinless sausages which are low in fat and high in meat. I added some fresh breadcrumbs to them to fluffify and lighten them, some milk to bind and stirred in the broccoli and oddly enough, we have a new meatball favourite.

I also couldn't get by without using my favorites tomato pasta bake sauce, Remano Creamy tomato and basil from shock horror, of all places, Aldi. Its creamy and very tomatoey and we make special trips to Aldi to stock up our cupboards with it. My husband and I are those oddball people that actually love cottage cheese. We could eat it by the tubful so I need no convincing to use it. In fact the texture, once cooked, is like using mince. And since I'm not a fan of mozzarella, I used regular tasty cheese, nothing fancy there. It wasn't as crispy as the recipe suggests that it would be - perhaps the addition of the pasta sauce instead of regular tomato sauce did it but it was still very good and a favoured alternative to spaghetti and meatballs.

(Rainy Day) Spaghetti Pie from Deceptively Delicious

This is a perfect recipe for that leftover pasta you've got in the fridge from last night's dinner

• Nonstick cooking spray

• 3 ozs/90g whole wheat spaghetti or angel hair pasta (or 1 cup cooked leftover pasta) I used fettucine

• 1/2 pound/250g lean ground turkey or sirloin (I used 200g chevups sausages and 50g fresh breadcrumbs)

• 1/2 cup broccoli puree

• 1 large egg white

• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan

• 2 cloves garlic chopped

• 2 cups bottled tomato sauce

• 1 cup lowfat cottage cheese

• 1/4 cup carrot puree

• 1/2 t salt

• 1/4 t pepper

• 1 cup shredded part skim mozzarella (I used regular tasty)

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Coat a 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray

Step 2 - Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain in a colander (Skip this step if you have leftover pasta)

Step 3 - In a small bow, mix the ground turkey or sirloin with the broccoli puree, egg white, parmesan and garlic. Form the mixture into 1/2 inch balls

Step 4 - In a large bowl, stir the cooked pasta, tomato sauce, cottage cheese, carrot puree,, and salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture into the pie plate and smooth the top. Scatter meatballs on top and sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake, uncovered until the centre is firm and the cheese is bubble, 25 - 30 minutes.

Prep: 20 mins Total: 45 mins serves 8-10

By Jessica Seinfeld from Deceptively Delicious