BAKED SPAGHETTI (TRISHA YEARWOOD)

Steps:

• nstructions
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter or spray a 9 × 13 x 2 inch baking dish with non stick spray.
• Break the spaghetti noodles in half once or twice to make them more bite sized and drop them into a large stockpot filled with boiling, well salted water. Brown the ground beef in a large skillet; remove, drain and set aside. Cut the bacon in half lengthwise, stack a few slices together and cut into small pieces, dropping it directly into that same skillet. Cook until only slightly crispy; remove and let drain on a paper towel, reserving the bacon fat in the skillet.
• Add the onion and green bell pepper to the bacon fat and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes. To that, add the tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and the cooked beef and bacon. Bring up to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Layer half of the spaghetti noodles into the prepared baking dish. Spoon over half of the meat sauce. Add half of the cheddar and then repeat all three layers. Combine the cream of mushroom soup with the water and blend well. Drop over the top layer of cheese and carefully spread across the top. Sprinkle the top with the Parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees F, uncovered, for 30 to 35 minutes, or until heated through and bubbly around the edges.
• Cook's Notes: I use the original cream soup in most of my casseroles. I find that the lower fat and sodium products tend to be watery in casseroles. Okay to omit the Rotel and substitute all plain diced tomatoes; can also drain the Rotel to tone it down and just loosen the sauce a bit with some beef broth.
• Tip: If you'd ever had the occasion to end up with watery spaghetti on your plate, the culprit is likely the wet pasta. Don't rinse the pasta, make sure you give it time to drain really well, and don't build the casserole until it is dry and stops steaming. That steam can create condensation and thus water in the finished dish. Also, you can transfer the pasta back to the hot, but empty, cooking pot and place it back over the turned off burner. The residual heat from the burner and the pot will help to dry the water out of the pasta.
• The casserole came right up to the very top of my baking dish by the time that I got through the layering, so for insurance, I placed a pan on the lower rack and the casserole on the top rack to bake, just in case there was any spillover. There wasn't, thankfully, but you may want to take that precaution also, just in case!
• Source: http://deepsouthdish.com