Pizza Topped Pasta

You know I was thinking the other day when I was cooking some pasta about back when I was growing up. If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile you probably know, or you may not know, that my Dad’s parents raised me. Now my Granddad absolutely hung the moon for me. I was a Granddad’s girl for sure. I loved so many things about Granddad. One thing was that he enjoyed cooking and he was pretty darn good at it.

However, Grandmother did not relish the act of cooking and probably for that very reason, wasn’t very good at it. When she made spaghetti, there was no meat involved. It would be a jar of Ragu and box of long noodles. I really never realized that spaghetti was supposed to have meat until I started dating Rob. I always thought school spaghetti was amazing, but never realized why. So when I started dating Rob, who worked for an italian catering business for a long time, and he made spaghetti, I was over the moon because it reminded me of school spaghetti only because it had meat it in. (It was much better than school spaghetti.) As I think back to Grandmother’s way of cooking spaghetti, I was reminded that she was born into the Great Depression. Eating veggies out of a can was something we did every night while growing up. Fresh veggies was something I hardly ever saw at home. That and Grandmother’s way of preparing spaghetti with no meat is probably all a product of her being raised during the Great Depression. It’s interesting how our upbringing will shape how we cook, what we cook with, and other skills we may or may not have.

I have to say I don’t prepare hardly any meals without meat. After all I have a house full of meat-loving men! So don’t count on seeing too many meatless recipes here. 🙂

Lately I’ve been craving big salads, pasta, and pizza. I even ordered from a pizza restaurant last night! There’s just something so comforting about authentic italian food in this frigid weather. My family loves this baked pasta with a pizza topping and so do I!

Servings: 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. of ground beef or turkey
2 cups of Mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
Pepperoni
1 box of Penne pasta
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (I used homemade sauce)
2 tbs. garlic

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente and drain.
3. In a large skillet, brown meat with garlic over medium heat. Be careful not to get too hot or you’ll burn the garlic, which then becomes super bitter.
4. Pour 1/2 sauce in with pasta and stir. Then pour the pasta into a baking dish. Top with meat, then the rest of your sauce.
5. Cover the top with your 2 cheese and then finish it off with pepperoni.
6. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until cheese and sauce are bubbly.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Pizza Topped Pasta

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Author: Lysha @ A Camera & A Cookbook

Cuisine: Italian

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 lb. of ground beef or turkey
• 2 cups of Mozzarella cheese
• ½ cup of Parmesan cheese
• Pepperoni
• 1 box of Penne pasta
• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce (I used homemade sauce)
• 2 tbs. garlic

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente and drain.
3. In a large skillet, brown meat with garlic over medium heat. Be careful not to get too hot or you'll burn the garlic, which then becomes super bitter.
4. Pour ½ sauce in with pasta and stir. Then pour the pasta into a baking dish. Top with meat, then the rest of your sauce.
5. Cover the top with your 2 cheese and then finish it off with pepperoni.
6. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until cheese and sauce are bubbly.

3.5.3251

You can find a comprehensive index with pictures here and you can follow me on Pinterest to see my latest recipes!
Follow Lysha’s board My Recipes {ACAC} on Pinterest.