Baked Mostaciolli Pasta with Fire-roasted Tomato Meat Sauce
From luisascatering 13 years ago
- 2 hours to make
- Serves 6
This is one of our all time favorite pasta dishes. Using fire roasted tomatoes really adds a lot to the sauce (and slow cooking the sauce with love is also important). Please don't skip the bechamel sauce on top - it's what makes this pasta dish really special :-)
Ingredients
- For Meat Sauce: shopping list
- 3 tablespoons olive oil shopping list
- 1 large yellow sweet onion, finely chopped shopping list
- 1.5 lbs organic ground beef shopping list
- 1 tube double-concentrated tomato paste shopping list
- 3 large cloves garlic, smashed and minced shopping list
- 2 large cans Muir Glen Organic Fire-Roasted tomatoes, Crushed or Diced (or one of each) shopping list
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves shopping list
- 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves shopping list
- 2 turkish bay leaves shopping list
- sugar, to taste shopping list
- kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper, to taste shopping list
- ~ shopping list
- For Bechamel Sauce: shopping list
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter shopping list
- 4 tablespoons all purpose flour shopping list
- 3 cups half & half shopping list
- pinch freshly grated nutmeg shopping list
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus more to top shopping list
- kosher salt and white pepper, to taste shopping list
- ~ shopping list
- 3 containers fresh mostacholi pasta (of course you can use dried or a different tube shaped pasta) shopping list
- ~ shopping list
- fresh basil or parsley, for garnish shopping list
How to make it
- For Meat Sauce:
- In a Dutch oven, in hot oil over medium heat, sauté the onion until tender and just begins to turn golden. Add ground beef and brown, then the tomato paste and saute a few more minutes. Add remaining sauce ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 1-2 hours. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more salt, if necessary. Can be made 1-2 days ahead of time ( it tastes better that way!)
- For Bechamel Sauce:
- In a medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat until melted. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 6 to 7 minutes. Add the half & half to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, whisking continuously until very smooth. Bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. Season with salt and nutmeg, whisk in cheese and set aside until ready to use.
- Boil pasta according to directions (just until al dente). note: Do not over cook the pasta because it will be baked as well and you don't want it to be mushy.
- To assemble: toss cooked pasta with meat sauce and pour into a buttered baking dish. Pour bechamel sauce over the top and sprinkle with extra cheese. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover and broil for a few minutes until golden on top.
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