Using homemade pasta nests, you can easily make these fun spaghetti muffins that are perfect for a buffet or a children's party. You can top them with small mozzarella balls or quail eggs and celebrate Spring or Easter with these edible little bird's nests.
Course Pasta
Cuisine Italian
Keyword baked spaghetti, Pasta nests, spaghetti muffins
Add the tomato sauce and the beef stock, stir and close the pressure pan.
2 cup tomato sauce, 1 cube stock
Once the pressure is built, the sauce has to cook for only 30 minutes. N:B: If you don't have a pressure cooker the sauce should simmer for 2 hours.
Making Béchamel: White Roux
Stir for 1 or 2 minutes the flour and the butter in a pan over low heat with a wooden spoon to create a white roux.
1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon flour
Remove from the heat and gradually add the warm milk making sure no lumps are formed.
½ cup Milk
Put back on the heat and bring to boil stirring constantly.
Lower the heat and keep stirring, until it thickens.
Add salt and nutmeg at the end.
1 pinch salt, 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Preparing the sauce
In a bowl mix all the ingredients to make the sauce: ragu, bechamel, heavy cream, freshly grated parmesan, and chopped basil leaves. Leave some Parmesan and basil aside for the topping.
½ cup heavy cream, 1 cup chopped basil leaves, 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Assembling the muffins
Grease the cups of a muffins pan with olive oil using a brush to spread it evenly
4 tablespoon olive oil
Coat the cups with breadcrumbs
¼ cup breadcrumbs
Pour in each cup 1 tablespoon of the prepared sauce
Place the spaghetti nests on top
1 lb fresh homemade spaghetti
Top the spaghetti with more sauce
Sprinkle more Parmesan and drizzle some olive oil
Bake and serve
Bake in a hot oven at 355 F - 180 C for 30 minutes
Place the muffins on a tray and decorate with basil leaves
1 cup chopped basil leaves
Top them with mozzarella bites and serve
12 mozzarella bites
Video
Notes
Don't use more than 12 oz - 350 gr of spaghetti otherwise the nest will be too packed and dry
You can also use tagliatelle or fettuccine but they have to be fresh, not the dried ones
If you are using dried pasta you will need to pre-biol it for half of the time written in the package
You can use any other sauce but make sure it is liquid enough to cook the spaghetti while baking them