It’s Italian sausage, peppers, garlic, and marinara all blanketed in oodles of mozzarella and cheese. The best thing about baked mostaccioli is the crunchy crust that forms surfaces once it is baked in the oven.
Ingredients
- Penne Pasta 320 g
- Beef 300 g (ground)
- White onion 1
- Parmesan Cheese 110 g (grated)
- Tomato Paste 1 tbsp
- Mozzarella Cheese 100 g
- Rosemary 1 sprig
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Steps:
- To prepare the baked mostaccioli, start by peeling the onion. Wet the knife before chopping to avoid tears. Put the chopped onion in a pan, add a drizzle of oil and let it brown for a few minutes.
- At this point, add the ground beef and the sprig of rosemary. Brown the meat well and it will be cooked in a few minutes.
- Now add the tomato paste. Mix and season with salt and pepper.
- Let the sauce cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once ready, remove the rosemary.
- Cut the mozzarella into cubes.
- Drain the pasta al dente (or use leftover pasta). Add the pasta to the sauce and mix well by adding half of the grated cheese.
- Put the pasta in a baking dish and add the mozzarella on the top. Cover with the remaining grated Parmigiano Reggiano and bake at 200 ° C for about 25 minutes. When the baked mostaccioli is perfectly au gratin on the surface, take it out of the oven and serve, adding chopped parsley to taste.
- Tips & Tricks
One of the tricks to make perfect baked mostaccioli is to cook the pasta al dente. For Italians, cooking pasta is a sacred thing and it is therefore important to respect the cooking times on the packaging so that it maintains the right consistency. - Brown the meat very well so that the sauce cooks faster.
