This is a very easy baked pasta or oven pasta recipe where you can substitute ground beef with ground turkey or chicken and use veggies of your choice. This time I chose peas and button mushrooms.
prep time 15 min cook time 25 min
ingredients for 4-5
- 500g short pasta of your choice, I used big penne
- 500g ground beef
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 carrot, dices
- 10-15cm piece of celery, diced
- extra virgin olive oil
- 150g frozen or fresh peas
- 250g button mushrooms, sliced or diced
- 500ml béchamel sauce, I used store bought but you can make your own
- glass of white wine
- salt and pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 200g provola dolce or mozzarella, cut into cubes
- 50g + 30g grated cheese, Parmesan or other
- breadcrumbs
1. Pre heat the oven to 180C.
2. In a large pan heat a few Tbls of olive oil. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook for a few minutes. Add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper.
3. Add the mushrooms, let cook for a few minutes and then add the frozen peas and also the bayleaf. Pour the wine and let cook on low for 15 minutes.
4. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions but drain it 3-4 minutes before it’s al dente.
5. If you are making your own béchamel sauce, here is how. You need butter, milk, flour, salt and nutmeg.
6. Mix the drained pasta with the meat sauce in a large bowl. Stir in 400ml of besciamella, mozzarella cubes and 50g of grated cheese.
7. Pour the pasta into a 25 x 35cm oven proof baking pan. Top with the remaining 100ml of besciamella, sprinkle 30g of grated cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake in the oven for about 25 min until the top starts to brown. For the last 5 min you can use the grill setting.
BUON APPETITO!