GMA Recipe: Rachael Ray's Not-sagna Pasta Toss

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Rachael Ray's Not-sagna Pasta Toss
From chef and author Rachael Ray
Wednesday, April 19, 2006

In Rachael Ray's cookbook, 'Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals' she helps you make the easiest ever, 30 minute meals by telling you what to keep on hand and what to buy on your way home. Don't stand in line, use the express lane! She shared several tasty and easy recipes on Good Morning America.

Easier than lasagna, because it's not lasagna, this pasta, meat sauce, and ricotta toss-up is just as hearty and comforting as the layered Italian fave, but it's ready in a fraction of the time and with much less effort. Serve with a simple green salad dressed with oil and vinegar.

Rachael Ray's Not-sagna Pasta Toss

Ingredients

Coarse salt

1 pound curly short-cut pasta, such as campanelle by Barilla, or cavatappi (hollow corkscrew pasta)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, twice around the pan

1 pound ground sirloin*

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (eyeball it in your palm)

black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice (eyeball it in your palm)

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup dry red wine, a couple of glugs

1/2 cup beef stock

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese*

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, a couple of handfuls, plus some to pass at the table

1 cup fresh basil, about 20 leaves*

* Put these items on your Express Lane shopping list and pick them up fresh on your way home. Everything else should be a staple in your pantry.

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Salt the water and cook the pasta to al dente. Heads up: You will need a ladle of the starchy cooking water to help form the sauce before you drain the pasta.

Heat a deep nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the extra virgin olive oil, then the meat. Break up the meat into small bits and cook for 4 minutes to 5 minutes, or until the meat has good color to it.

Add the onions, garlic, and red pepper flakes, and season them with salt, pepper, the allspice, and the Worcestershire sauce. Cook for another 5 minutes, deglaze the meat and onions with the red wine, cook off a minute, then stir the stock into the meat. Stir in the tomatoes and bring it to a bubble. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 5 minutes.

Place the ricotta cheese in the bottom of a shallow bowl. Add a ladleful of boiling, starchy pasta water to the ricotta and stir to combine them. Add a couple of handfuls of grated Parm cheese to the ricotta and mix it in.

Drain the pasta. Toss the hot pasta with the cheeses. Add half of the thick meat sauce to the pasta bowl and toss again to combine. Tear or shred the basil and add it to the meat and pasta, then toss them again. Taste it to adjust the salt and pepper.

Serve bowlfuls of Not-sagna with extra sauce on top and more grated Parm to pass at the table.

Makes 4 servings

Recipe copyright 2006, Rachael Ray from her book, "Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals: What to Keep on Hand, What to Buy Fresh for the Easiest-Ever 30-Minute Meals"