Baked Penne

( Before putting in the oven)

I am "rookie" when it comes to making pasta. The best I ever done was to use ready made off the shelf pasta sauce. However, I am not a fan of ready made sauce and have been toying with the idea of making my own pasta sauce. I tried to make a spaghetti with a made from scratch sauce recipe last month and it was a failure. Kudos to the BF for trying to finish his plate :)

I have been reading and researching on pasta recipe since. The idea of baked pasta has been floating in my head for the longest time and I finally decided to try last night with my own "concoction" - The measurements in the recipe are "estimate" as I added the ingredients based on my "feel"

Ingredients:
1. 1 pound of ground turkey
2. 1 cup of onion
3. 2 can diced tomatoes
4. 2-3 table spoon of paprika
5. 2-3 table spoon of oregano
6. 2-3 table spoon of basil
7. 2 -3 table spoon of chili flakes
8. 1 table spoon of garlic
9. Shredded mozzarella
10. 1.5 table spoon of tomato paste
11. pepper and salt
12. Olive oil
13. 1 pound of penne


Directions:
1. Marinate the ground beef with paprika, pepper and salt
2. Cook the Penne accordingly to box direction
3. Add olive oil to the skillet. Brown the ground turkey and add onion and garlic. Add the basil , chili flakes and oregano.
4. Add the can tomato and tomato paste and bring to a boil
5. Simmer for 15 minutes
6. Add the cooked penne to mixture
7. Placed half of the penne to a casserole. Add a layer of cheese. Repeat layer
8. Baked in oven at 350 for 20-30 minutes till bubbly


Here are some variations :
1. Use Italian turkey sausage instead of ground turkey
2. Use one can of crushed tomato with one can of dice tomato
3. Use Italian seasoning instead of oregano and basil

~bel~