Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce
April 10th, 2008This is another great recipe taken straight from Simply Recipes. It is actually very simple to make. Just make sure you have two big pans, with one of them cast-iron ideally.
- 1/2 pound penne pasta
- Salt
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large onion)
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Dash red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound (16% fat) ground beef
- 3 fresh basil leaves, chopped
- 2 1/2 cups canned chunky tomato sauce (almost one 28-ounce can)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- Boil a pot of water, add the pasta to the pot, and cook until al dente. Drain.
- Once you’ve started to heat the water, start working on the sauce. Heat olive oil in a very large skillet on medium heat. Add the chopped onion, Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are softened. Add the garlic, fresh thyme, season with salt and pepper. Cook for an additional minute, until the garlic is fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Heat a large cast iron pan on medium to high heat. Once the pan is hot, break up small chunks of ground beef and add them to the pan, without stirring. You want the meat to get well browned, not burned. Once the meat is browned on one side (a couple of minutes), flip the meat over to brown on the other side. At this point you can remove the pan from the heat.
- Use a slotted spoon to lift the meat from the cast iron pan and add it to the pan with the seasoned onions. Add tomato sauce and break up the bigger chunks of meat into smaller pieces. Add basil. Add a teaspoon of sugar. Bring to a simmer on low heat, let cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
- Adjust seasonings. Add salt and pepper to taste, add a little more sugar if the sauce is too acidic, and add more tomato sauce if the sauce is a little dry. Stir in the cooked penne pasta. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve
Serves 6.