As we are in Winter break here, I don’t need to go to school everyday. I didn’t want to wake up early yesterday morning, in fact I didn’t want to get out of the bed eventhough I woke up. It was great to know that it was Monday but there was no work. After lingering over breakfast, I decided to do some house chores and to change the planning of some rooms. I feel refreshed whenever I make some “restoration” inside the house by changing the places of the coach, armchairs, bookcases (we have 6 big bookcases), and the other portable things in the house. It’s like moving to a new house, so whenever I get bored, I do it at least once a year as I do love renewals. Of course I wasn’t alone while doing these, I could have never managed all these without the help of my hubby.
When I was having a cup of Turkish coffee to take a rest, I realized that the dinner time was coming. And guess what? I remembered that we had invited two friends for dinner. “What are we going to cook?” was the question I repeated a hundred times. And hubby offered his practical proposal: Pasta in Oven. Yep! It was a great idea because it was easy and scrumptious. I have never met anybody refusing pasta no matter how it is cooked. However, when cooked in oven, pasta becomes more special with its irresistible look. It looks like a kind of borek, doesn’t it?
Our friends were happy to see the new planning in our house and feel the wonderful smell of pasta coming from the kitchen. It was ready when they came, but we needed some fresh salad to serve. We always love to work with our guests in the kitchen, so I didn’t refuse their proposal for help and put the necessary ingredients for a salad on the counter. Hubby served us red wine as he knew how to motivate us to work. After a very short time, our dinner was ready with a great trio: Pasta in oven, green salad and red wine.
Fırında Makarna
Ingredients:
- ½ package of pasta (I used bucatini, thick spaghetti)
- 1 cup feta cheese
- 3 eggs
- 2 ½ cup milk
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 cup chopped parsley
- 1 cup grated kasar cheese (yellow cheese), for its top
- Salt
- Black pepper
Heat water in a large pot. When it boils, put the pasta in the pot, add a few drops olive oil, this will prevent the bucatini sticks(?) from sticking to each other. And boil it for 10 minutes. Takeit from fire, put it under cold water and drain. Put it in an oven tray, add crumbled feta cheese with parsley and mix them.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Mix milk, flour, egg, olive oil, salt and black pepper together until smooth. Seperate a little of this mixture aside and pour the rest on pasta and mix. Spread the seperated milk mixture on its top. Cook it in oven for about 30 minutes. Then take it out and put the grated kasar cheese evenly on the pasta. Put it back into the oven and cook it until the cheese melts (about 5-7 min). Serve it cutting in squares.
18 Comments on "Pasta in Oven"
In Greece a very famous dish is “pastitsio”, essentially the same as your dish but with ground beef or lamb with tomato sauce as well. Also, I don’t think we put feta in ours (but we do add yellow cheese), and it is flavoured with nutmeg or allspice.
Also, spaghetti has no hole in it – the kind of pasta required is buccatini, or macaroni (not all macaroni is short and curved).
This sounds delicious and very different than I expected from the title. I am so used to spaghetti with meat sauce that I forget the versatility of this pasta. I love the idea of a baked version. We have something similar, although not often using feta, called macaroni and cheese. Something about cheese and pasta, makes everything very tasty.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=macaroni+and+cheese+recipe&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
I”m with you, if I ever get bored, I like to move the furniture around – that is until I stub my toe in the night, because I forgot the new layout.
Enjoy your break!
Mmmm…I love baking pasta in the oven. It also a great last minute meal. Nicely done Zerrin.
stamatia- Beef and lamb sounds great in any kind of pasta. Never used them when I cook it in oven, but I sometimes make sauce with them and use it while serving.
Thanks for the correction in the name of the dish. No matter they have holes or not, here we call them spaghetti if they are long. But I will change the name to “pasta in oven”. I searched for the definition of bucatini, and you’re right the ones I used here must be called bucatini. Thanks again.
Oyster- There must be millions of versions to cook pasta, I find the oven version more appealing just because of its look. And I think cheese goes better than meat or meat sauce.
Jenn- Thank you! I can’t imagine a world without pasta. It’s a great helper when you don’t have enough time.
looks delicious and I like the combination of feta and pasta. great post!
Sounds like a delicious pasta casserole, love the cheesy topping, yum!
hi zerrin
I like pasta in oven hmm a very delicious meal
kisses
Your baked pasta looks incredibly delicious, Zerrin. My favorite part of baked pasta is the golden, cheesy top!
I hope you enjoy your winter break!
Bucatini is one of my favourite types of pasta. It is cooked daily in here in Barbados my many to make macaroni and cheese pie.
You’re right about baked pasta! I don’t think anyone ever refuses it. Your’s look delicious with the mix of cheeses.
Very nice and simple. This is something I will definitely make. yum yum
Yummy! This is truly fantastic idea Zerrin!
Hi Zerrin, your pasta in the oven looks so delightful! I love moving furniture around too!
A georgous & very tasty pasta oven dish!! Could you use less eggs?
MMMMM,….lovely food!
Such a simple dish to prepare and yet I am sure it tasted fantastic. I love the way the cheese is so golden on top. I have never tried kasar cheese – can I substitute with cheddar?
You have reminded me of how much I love pasta bakes and how infrequently I make them – must remedy that!
I love Feta cheese but don’t use it often with pasta. This dish sounds great, I’ll give it a try! Thanks for the inspiration
You are right, no one is going to turn down such a dish, especially when it is homemade!