Pastere – Pasta Squares

When I was growing up, every time I went to my grandparents house, there would be a snack of cold congealed cubes of pasta with an eggy flavor that was sometimes flecked with pepperoni. Based on the adjectives I used to describe it, you could probably imagine that I wasn’t super fond of it. The rest of my family seemed to love it, so I always felt left out. We called it Pastere, but I can’t find any evidence of such a thing existing on the internet. This 4th of July, when I was asked to bring the Pastere to the picnic, I decided I would make sure that I made something I would like too! Armed with my grandma’s handwritten recipe I got to work.

The sauce for this recipe is eggs, cheese and a little bit of pasta cooking liquid.
Mix the pasta into the sauce…
…then split it into the 2 pans. Bake for about a half hour.
After it cools slice it up! I was very happy with how these came out. They were a little bit moister than they were back in the day and all the veggies added nice flavor.
The plain variety
I think people are starting to get annoyed with their faces poping up on this website, because most people at the party seemed to not want me to snap their pictures!
1 pound spaghetti
1 pound penne
9 eggs
2 cups grated parm
2 cups grated mozzarella
1/2 cup pasta water
Optional mix-ins – shredded zucchini, red peppers, and salami
Whisk the eggs and add in the cheese. Boil the pasta in heavily salted water. When the pasta is just about ready, grab 1/2 cup of the water and whisk it into the eggs. Strain the pasta and whisk it into the egg mixture. Grease 2 baking pans (13X9) and pour the mixture into the 2 pans, making sure that the liquid gets evenly dispersed. Now is when you would mix any mix-ins in. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.
I wouldn’t have denied your cam-era…
I’m all for face-stuffing shots, anytime.
I feel famous!
At some point, I would have started threading the spaghetti into all the penne and this dish would have taken me hours to prepare.
Pasta squares sound good! I would prefer the version with veggies and salami.
Wow. This sounds really good. Definitely something I would enjoy. Nothing wrong with sprucing up a classic. 🙂
What you’re calling Pastere is actually lukshen kugel. Every Jewish grandma knows how to make this. The traditional version is sweet, with sugar and raisins.
These look super cool! But the question that is burning in my mind is: do you eat them with a fork or just pick up the square with your hands and bring to mouth?
The public (or at least I) need to know!
We usually just pick them up and eat them with our hands.
I’m a little late to the party, sorry. This recipe is for the two pans, right? So I’d just halve everything for a single pan?
Yes, This recipe is for 2 pans.
I’m going to make this! I found a kind of similar (barely) recipe on the Hunts site years back – fewer eggs and topped with canned tomatoes, but I really liked that when it was cooled, it tasted just as good as warm. New here today, and I love this site!
My Grandmother also made Pastere. Her recipe was 1 lb Parmesan, 1 doz eggs and 1 lb. pasta and lot of black pepper. We loved it. It was only made at Easter We only ate it cold. I loved the crunchy top.
that’s my grandmother’s recipe
My mother made this but used lard to grease the pans. Great flavor!
Wow, I haven’t had Pastere in years! What an amazing find. My Mom used to make this every Easter. Some wonderful memories of family and the holidays. They’re all gone now. But not forgotten. There recipes live on.