Last night I also made Humphrey Bogart's SPAGHETTI LOAF
Humphrey Bogart's SPAGHETTI LOAF - This recipe intrigued me for a while, and I finally decided to make it. I was imagining this to be a baked mac and cheese made with long spaghetti instead of elbow macaroni, but it was very different...
There's no roux for this. No butter. No breadcrumb crusts. No cheddar.
This is a straight-up American Cheese situation. Without the roux or sauce made with butter and flour and milk, you don't get that creamy consistency that we're used to.
So here's how it went down...
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a loaf pan on all sides.
I cooked 2 cups of broken spaghetti. It came out to about 2/3's or 3/4's of a 1 lb box of spaghetti. I only cut the long spaghetti into thirds. I didn't want short pieces, because I thought it would be more fun to have a long noodle-y look to this dish.
Spaghetti was cooked al dente, because it was going in the oven to cook some more.
While the pasta was cooking, I started on the sauce in another pot. Milk was added and the the chopped up American cheese. I cut it in small cubes, but next time I will shred it, as it took longer to melt in cubes. I also cracked 2 eggs in a measuring cup and whisked them.
Once the cheese was fully melted over medium high heat, I slowly ladled a bit of the hot milk/cheese mixture into the eggs one small ladle at a time, while whisking. I added 2-3 small ladles into the eggs to temper them (so you don't get scrambled eggs).
Then I slowly poured the egg/cheese/milk mixture (from the measuring cup) back into the pan with the remaining milk and cheese mixture all while whisking rapidly.
Salt, grated onion and parsley were added and then the cooked spaghetti. (If the drained spaghetti has to sit in the pot while you're finishing the sauce, add a little bit of butter or olive oil to coat noodles to prevent sticking).
Mix the whole thing together to make sure spaghetti is evenly covered with the sauce and then put into the buttered loaf pan.
I baked this for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
Now for the taste...
It was good and it's weird to say but I got a homey and old-fashioned vibe from it. It not like the average mac and cheese. It's dryer, almost like a cross between mac and cheese, cornbread, and a grilled cheese sandwich (with American Cheese).
It's good picnic food or bbq food for sure! My family liked it, except my one son who doesn't like American Cheese at all. It went exceptionally well with Cary Grant's Barbecued Chicken that I also made last night and Joan Crawford's Slaw from the other day. It was a great trio of flavors!