A recipe for your pasta sauce or jar sauce
This Easy Baked Pasta is a changeable recipe. Use your favorite meat sauce or marinara, or try my gravy, or use a jar of marinara, and even make it vegetarian. It’s easy to change up.
The dish in this picture was made with my Italian gravy rich with meat and meat balls. The only ingredients I added to my gravy were the cheeses and pasta. Just layered in this oblong baking dish without much significance in what layer goes first.
Now I am going to give you ways to change this up, add meat or vegetables, add your sauce or jar.
Recipe
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes, until bubbly
11-12 inch by 7-8 inch baking dish
Serves 5-6
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil or butter or a combination
1 Pound hamburger or substitute vegetables that are cut into small bite size pieces
8 Ounces mushrooms–sliced
1 Medium onion–chopped or thinly sliced
1 Cup ricotta cheese
2 Cups mozzarella cheese–grated
1 Cup parmesan cheese–grated
3 Cups sauce
(Click on this link for the red pasta sauce recipes on my blog How to Make Spaghetti Sauce)
3/4 Pound pasta, rigatoni, penne, or ziti (This recipe can be used for lasagna.)
Sauté onion in a medium skillet over medium heat in 1T olive oil until just turning slightly brown. Remove and set aside.
Sauté mushrooms in same skillet over medium heat in 1T olive oil until slightly brown. Remove and set aside.
Brown hamburger in remaining olive oil. Drain and set aside.
Cook pasta according to directions, drain and set aside.
If vegetables are going to be used instead of meat, sauté bite size pieces until just tender. Recommend squash, cauliflower if cut small and cooked well, broccoli if cut small and cooked well, asparagus, red bell pepper, sautéed spinach.
Oil dish with olive oil and spoon a small amount of sauce in the bottom of the dish.
Next add half the cooked pasta.
Cover pasta with a layer of hamburger (or vegetables), onion and mushrooms. Using half of each.
Dot with ricotta. Sprinkle half of other cheeses.
Cover this with half of the remaining sauce.
Follow layering for the second time. Except save the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses remaining for the top.
BAKE AND EAT!
