Moo's Noodles Baked Like a Cake

Noodles, while delicious any time, are real comfort food in winter. When it was cold outside, Moo loved to cook noodles, which we usually made from scratch. This is a great palate pleaser and quite unusual.

Pasta
1 pound rigatoni, cooked and drained
3 heaping T parmesan cheese
3 T sweet butter

Crust
2 T sweet butter, softened
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Filling
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated
1/4 pound Italian ham (prosciutto), sliced thin

Cook rigatoni, drain and return to the pot. Add butter and parmesan cheese. Toss to coat the pasta. Set aside. Grease a round 1-quart baking dish (about cake height). In a bowl, combine breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. Add about 1/4 cup of the crumb/cheese mix to the greased dish and shake dish to spread a thin coating of the mix across the bottom of the dish. Shake out the excess mixture that is not adhering to the bottom of the baking dish (reserve it). In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg and pour this in the baking dish. Tilt and move dish around until egg evenly coats the bottom. Again add about 1/4 cup crumb/cheese mix and shake around to coat bottom of dish again. Pour off excess (reserve it).

Layer 1/3 of the pasta into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/3 mozzarella and 1/2 of the ham strips and 1/3 of the remaining crumb/cheese mix. Repeat these layers twice over and top with crumb/cheese mix. You can refrigerate now until you are ready to cook and serve.

When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 20-30 minutes (if room temperature) or 45 minutes if coming directly from the oven. Cool about 10 minutes. Loosen around the edges and turn out like a cake onto a serving platter.