Right so having seen the pi contest and moving house soon I decided to come up with something that would help us empty our cupboards and be eligible for the contest. So without the ingredients for pastry I knew it was going to have to be something a little different so I give you...pasta pie!

Step 1: The Ingredients

As you'll see from the picture, there isn't much to this recipe. I don't usually use a jar of bolognaise sauce but as this is all I had then it would have to do. You could easily make a homemade bolognaise sauce and use that instead - it would be probably taste better.

1x 500g bag of Tortigolini - I expect Rigatoni would work well too.
1x 500g pack of mince beef.
1x jar of bolognaise sauce (or homemade bolognaise sauce).
Lots of cheese (I have no idea why we had all these tiny blocks of cheese).
A small amount of olive oil

Step 2: Preparing the Pasta

Stick a nice large saucepan on the boil with a pinch of salt and pour in the entire bag of pasta, it'll look like a lot but it isn't really. You don't want to fully cook the pasta, the instructions on my pack said for 12 minutes but I only cooked it for ten.

Step 3: Browning the Mince

After you've put your saucepan of water on for the pasta get a frying pan on the go with a tiny amount of oil in it.

Pour your mince into the frying pan and fry until brown and it is no longer pink. Once brown stir in the jar of sauce or homemade alternative.

Step 4: Arrange the Pasta

Whilst your mince and sauce is simmering for about twenty minutes you can empty your saucepan and drain the pasta. Toss the pasta in a tablespoon of olive oil to stop the pasta sticking together. You could also add some cheese to the pasta at this stage.

Start to arrange the pasta around your tin in a circle filling up as much as possible. As you can see from the photo I ran out of pasta so stuck a mug in the middle of it, in the end I quite liked the hole.

Step 5: Stuff the Meat and Sprinkle the Cheese

Once your pasta is all aligned (if you haven't lost the will to live) you can pour your bolognaise mixture over the top of the pasta, you will need to prod the meat down into the pasta tubes at this point which can be time consuming. I found the end of a teaspoon pretty handy at this stage.

Once you've got all the meat stuffed into the pasta tubes sprinkle some cheese over the top. Mozarella might be a nice choice but we didn't have any in the house.

Then stick it in an oven for twenty minutes or so. Gas mark 4 should be about right.

Step 6: Cut and Serve

Once you've got it out the oven leave it for a couple of minutes, not so long that it gets cold but give it some time before you remove the tin. Then cut it into slices and serve.

Enjoy!