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[coraa]

neonelephant, donaithnen and jmpava were over (are over, I should say) and I made dinner. Nothing fancy -- just penne with meat sauce. And too much cheese. This was just about enough for 4.

• 1 lb ground beef
  
• 1/2 yellow onion, minced
  
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced or crushed
  
• dash thyme
  
• dash oregano
  
• 1 can tomato sauce
  
• 1 small package penne
  
• 1/2 package of mozarella (one of those vaguely log-shaped or cylindrical ones)
  

Preheat the oven to about 350F.

In a frying pan, brown the ground beef thoroughly. (If it sticks or smokes at first, you can add a drop of vegetable oil, but there's usually enough fat in ground beef that it will quickly render out and grease the pan for you.) Remove to a bowl lined with paper towels. Pour off some of the fat, leaving enough to grease the pan.

Sautee the onion until soft and golden. Add garlic and herbs, and continue to sautee until the onion is beginning to turn brown (but do not let the garlic burn -- burned garlic has a nasty bitter taste).

Put plenty of water on to boil. It's easiest if this is a pot that's also oven-safe.

Add tomato sauce to the onions, throw the beef back into the pan, and put the whole thing on a low simmer.

When the water is rapidly boiling, dump in the penne. Let cook until just tender.

While the penne is cooking, grate the mozarella. Do not, as I did, lose track of what you're doing while thinking about something else and grate rather too much cheese and also your knuckle.

When the penne is tender, drain. Dump back in the pan (or into a casserole if the pan is not oven-safe). Rapidly mix the tomato sauce mixture with the pasta. Top with the cheese. Put in the oven until the cheese is all melty.

Serve.

(In retrospect, if I had oiled the pan [to prevent sticking and burning], added a little more liquid to the sauce, undercooked the penne slightly and maybe turned the temperature up a smidge, I could have baked it until the cheese browned. Future experiment.)

Comments

[donaithnen.livejournal.com]

and it was yummy! Thank you! :)