Recipe: Baked Pasta

As I've talked about off and on, I have developed an appreciation for cooking.  I'm by no means overly proficient, but certain things do seem to come out pretty good and this has been one of them.  A couple of things to get out of the way first - and these are pretty much generic things for any recipe I'll post here:

1. This recipe is adapted from someone else's that I ran across on Pinterest, it's by no means something I came up with on my own, and as such I'm linking to the original page I pulled it from, it may or may not be that person's original recipe.  
2. I also tend to cook more by look and taste than exact amounts.  So things below such as the amount of cheese used is approximate - I use whatever it takes to make things "work out" - sometimes that's more, sometimes that's less.  I also am not always picky about certain things such as cheese - I almost always have cheddar and at least one other kind (sometimes several), but unless the recipe really needs something in particular, then I will use what I have versus making a special trip to get something.

With all of that out the way, on to the recipe.  I'm going to list the ingredients that *I* use and after that I'll mention the differences between mine and the original recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 package of Angel Hair pasta (16oz) - this is what M prefers, although I've made it with spaghetti as well.
• 1 package of "meat" - normally we use Salsiccia or in a pinch Chorizo, but ground beef will work as well, especially if you want the dish less spicy.
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2-3 cans/jars of spaghetti sauce - I normally use Hunt's 4 cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan - despite my affection for fresh grated cheese, for Parmesan I normally use Kraft grated Parmesan or the equivalent
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
• 3 cups of fresh shredded cheese - for this dish I normally use 1 1/2 cups of Cheddar and 1 1/2 cups of Mozzarella.  I do reserve a bit of each cheese for the very top, more of the mozzarella than cheddar for this
• Italian bread crumbs (1 cup or so)

Optional Ingredients

• 1 container (16oz) Ricotta cheese
• Crushed red pepper to taste
• Hot sauce to taste
• 2 eggs
• 1 onion, chopped

Differences From Original Ingredient List

Since M likes spicier food I add a fair amount of crushed red pepper and a few dashes of hot sauce.  The other "optional ingredients" are in the original recipe and if I have Ricotta I will use that in the sauce as mentioned below.  I always omit the onion as M is a bit of a baby about onions, and the eggs - well I've tried the recipe both with and without them and I have not seen a noticeable difference.  In fact I think M and J like it better without them.  The original recipe did call for Spaghetti in lieu of Angel Hair which works; and it called for ground beef, but as I said above we prefer spicier food so I substitute the Salsiccia or Chorizo.  Lastly the original recipe calls for 5 tablespoons of butter and I use 8 - I've found that J and M prefer the extra butter (and lack of eggs) in mine to the original.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large skillet brown the chosen meat along with the garlic (and onion if using).
3. Once that's complete, drain the meat and return to the skillet. 
4. Add 1 can of spaghetti sauce, the seasoned salt, the Italian seasoning, the crushed red pepper, and hot sauce.  I will let it just barely simmer, stirring occasionally.  If using the ricotta cheese, I also add it in at this point.  I do believe it makes the end result better, so I do try and use it when possible.
5. Cook the Angel Hair as per the instructions.  I tend to break it in half before I cook it - partially because that's how I saw my mother cook pasta, but mostly because I feel it's easier to deal with and eat if it's shorter.  I tend to cook it to just "al dente" since it will further cook when we bake the dish.
6. While the pasta is cooking I prepare my baking dishes.  I usually have enough for a 9x13 dish and two smaller 4x6 dishes which makes it nice for those nights when I need to do a split dinner.  If cooking for a smaller audience, the recipe can be halved easily enough.  To prepare the dish(es), I simply open another can of sauce and just cover the bottom of the dish(es) to prevent the pasta from drying out in the oven.  I then add the rest of the can to the sauce/meat mix that's simmering.
7. I will then melt the butter in the microwave and then whisk in the grated Parmesan cheese.
8. By now the pasta is done, I drain it and return it to the pot and quickly add the butter/Parmesan mixture and toss it together.  If you let the pasta sit too long it becomes difficult to work with.
9. Now it's assembly time.  I place a layer of pasta on top of the sauce in each dish, then I will put down a thin layer of grated cheese - usually a 2:1 cheddar/mozzarella mix, then a thin layer of the bread crumbs, and then cover that with the sauce/meat mix.  I then repeat the process, but using a 2:1 mozzarella/cheddar mix this time to finish my cheese up.  By then it's usually at the top of my baking dishes based upon the amounts I've used.  I top with the reserved cheese and then I will usually sprinkle a bit of grated Parmesan and perhaps a bit of oregano (or simple some more of my Italian spices) on top.
10. I normally bake for about 20-30 minutes based upon the pan size, and I'll usually put it under the broiler for 2-3 minutes at the end to get a slight browning of the cheese on top.
11. Once it's done, I will let it sit for a few minutes to "set" and then serve

Final Thoughts

By no means is this some "gourmet" recipe or really anything all that special.  But J and M do like it, and while I'm not really a "pasta person" outside of perhaps an occasional piece of Lasagna - I also think it's pretty good.  It is a really simple dish that I can prepare in advance and finish in the oven fairly easily; often with some garlic cheese bread.  I don't normally think to take photos of the process - something I'll correct going forward, but I do have one of a recent attempt.  It's of one of the smaller 4x6 dishes when J was working a late shift so I made hers later.  The larger dish looks the same though.  As always thanks for reading.

- M