Pasta Bake Recipe
This pasta bake is very child friendly. It is just pasta with ground beef,spaghetti sauce and cheese and it is so easy to make.
Ingredients
4 cups spiral pasta1 Tablespoon vegetable or olive oil, divided
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb ground beef
1 (30 ounce) jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
2 cups shredded shredded mozzarella cheese
(Serves 6)
Directions
Preheat oven to 375ºF.
Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
To cook pasta, fill a large pot 2/3 of the way with hot tap water. Add 1 teaspoon salt to the water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and stir with a wooden spoon to be sure noodles don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
Turn the heat down, enough to maintain a boil and stir every so often to prevent noodles sticking. Do not cover the pot. After 8-10 minutes, take a piece of pasta out of the water, allow it to cool and do a test for doneness.
Bite into the pasta. If it is too hard to bite or you see a white center, it needs to cook a little longer. When it cooks all the way through it is ready and cooked el dente. Turn off the heat, put the pasta into a strainer. Shake out excess water and put the pot back onto a cool part of the stove.
Pour one tablespoon oil into the noodles to keep them from sticking together.
Heat the oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until tender.
Add garlic and cook one minute longer.
Add the beef and cook until browned, breaking apart to a crumble texture. Drain off any excess fat. Stir in spaghetti sauce, salt and pepper and 1/2 cup of the parmesan cheese. Allow sauce to simmer for 30 minutes. Stir sauce into the pasta and transfer to the baking dish. Top with the remaining 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, until pasta is warmed through and cheese is melted and slightly browned.
Serve immediately. Serve immediately.