Baked Mostaccioli

Storing and Planning Ahead

Keeps for 4 days in the fridge. Freeze for 3 months and bake from thawed until hot all through.

Baked Mostaccioli: The Method

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1. Heat the oven to 190°C / 375°F. Boil the pasta for 8 minutes, drain.

   Mark done Start 8 min timer

2. Brown the sausage, beef and onion in a large pan for 10 minutes. Add the garlic, passata, tomato paste, oregano and salt and simmer for 15 minutes.

   Mark done Start 10 min timer

3. Mix the pasta with half the sauce and the ricotta and spread in a 3 litre dish. Pour over the rest of the sauce.

   Mark done

4. Top with the mozzarella and parmesan, cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 15 minutes more until bubbling and browned.

   Mark done Start 20 min timer

5. Rest for 10 minutes before serving.

   Mark done Start 10 min timer

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Worth Knowing

• Undercook the pasta slightly; it softens in the oven.
• Rest the bake for 10 minutes so it holds together when served.
• Cover with foil for the first part so the top does not dry out.

Why the Method Is What It Is

Pasta, meat sauce, three cheeses and an oven: that is the whole list. Baked mostaccioli is a family-size pasta bake in the Italian-American style, made for a table that needs feeding and a cook who wants most of it done ahead. It feeds a crowd.

Cook the pasta for two minutes less than the packet says. It finishes cooking in the oven, where it soaks up sauce, and pasta cooked fully soft first turns to mush by the time the top is browned. Make the sauce a little looser than you would for serving, because the pasta will drink it as it bakes. Keep it loose.

Brown the sausage and beef with onion and garlic, add passata, a spoonful of tomato paste and herbs, and simmer while the pasta boils. Mix half the sauce with the pasta and ricotta, spread in a deep dish, pour on the rest of the sauce and cover with mozzarella and parmesan. Cover with foil for most of the bake, then uncover to brown. Cover, then uncover.

Good Alongside

Green salad · Garlic bread · Roasted vegetables · Red wine

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Creamy Parmesan Polenta, Ciabatta, Citrus Fennel Salad.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
• Fresh herbs work in place of the dried oregano at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

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