Pasta Bake with Homemade Meat Sauce
What makes this Pasta Bake so good is the homemade meat sauce. The Meat sauce takes about 2 1/2 hours so keep that in mind if you’re thinking of making this dish. I know its a long time but trust me its absolutely worth the wait!
If you have never made your own pasta sauce, please try it. If you don’t have the time to make it from scratch, cook the ground beef and use your favorite Marinara sauce in place of the Homemade meat sauce(FYI, most of the flavor is in the meat sauce) and skip to step 5!
Pasta Bake with Homemade Meat Sauce
Ingredients
Rigatoni Pasta Cooked al dente*
Ground Beef
Italian Sausage
White Wine or Stock
Tomato Sauce
Tomato Paste
Diced Tomato
Parmigiano Reggiano
Parmesan Rind
Mozzarella Cheese
Ricotta
Carrots
Onions
Peppers- I use a combo of half red and half green
Garlic Cloves (whole)
Fresh Basil
Bay leaves
Fresh Thyme- just the leaves
Ground Oregano
Crushed Red Pepper
S&P
Sugar- A small amount. no more than 2 tbsp.
Olive Oil
water(as needed)
Instructions
In a sauce pot over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef and Italian Sausage. Set aside for later.
Heat same pot that you just cooked the meat on Medium-high and throw in the garlic,onions and peppers. Stir it around for about 1 minute then add the carrots and thyme and let that cook for another min or so. Stir in the tomato paste and make sure that you stir the tomato paste all over the pan.
Pour in the wine and allow it to bubble up and reduce for about 1 1/2 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes and Tomato Sauce. Stir to combine. Then add the sugar, S&P, oregano, crushed red pepper, bay leaves, the Parmesan Rind and Basil . Let it simmer on low for 40 min-1 hour.
With an Immersion Blender, ( take out the Parmesan Rind first)Blend the sauce till you get a thick consistency, add some water /stock or wine if you need to. Then add the rind and meat into the sauce and let that simmer for another hour or so.
When you’re ready to bake, put the oven on 375. In a Baking Dish, add the cooked pasta, the meat Sauce, ricotta and the mozzarella cheese. Mix it together then add the Parmigiano Reggiano and more of the mozzarella cheese on top. Sprinkle some Pepper and bake it for 20 minutes or until its heated throughout.
Add some Fresh Basil when ready to serve.
*Recipe Notes:
If making the Sauce from scratch, make the pasta last.
you must blend the sauce! don’t skip the step.
Parmigiano Reggiano is the better choice over Parmesan.
I buy cheap wine to cook, don’t use the fancy stuff for this.
if you’re using ready made marinara sauce, cook the sauce and the meat together for at least 10 min before adding it to the pasta.
