Pasta Bolognese With Cheese

Submitted by Sandi From CA

"If you like lasagna, you'll love this dish, and the addition of the red wine takes this over the top! (We're not wine drinkers, but it makes this dish "totally money", as my nephew would say.) Nary a single human being has crossed paths with it and NOT loved it. I like to cook the bacon and mushrooms separately first - and longer than stated below so that they brown and crisp up better, but the flavor will be the same if you follow the instructions as is. We just gotta have our carcinogens! ;)"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 20mins
• Ingredients: 20
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 29.58 ml olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 carrot, diced
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 4 slice bacon, finely chopped
• 5 button mushrooms, chopped
• 453.59 g lean ground beef
• 118.29 ml red wine
• 14.79 ml tomato paste
• 198.44 g can chopped tomatoes
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 473.18 ml dry penne pasta
• 295.73 ml milk
• 29.58 ml butter
• 29.58 ml all-purpose flour
• 236.59 ml diced mozzarella cheese
• 59.16 ml grated parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper
• fresh basil leaf (to garnish)

directions

1. Fry the onion, garlic, carrot and celery in the olive oil until softened.
2. Add the bacon and fry for 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms, fry for 2 minutes, then fry the beef until brown.
4. Add the wine, tomato paste, 3 tablespoons water, tomatoes and the sprig of fresh thyme; bring to a boil; cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 400 F; Cook the pasta.
6. Meanwhile, place the milk, butter and flour in a saucepan; heat gently, whisking until thickened.
7. Stir in the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses and season.
8. Drain the pasta and stir into the cheese sauce; uncover the Bolognese sauce and boil rapidly for 2 minutes.
9. Spoon the sauce into a casserole; top with the pasta mixture and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan.
10. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden; Garnish with basil and serve hot.

Reviews

[Alyssa.Rae]

It was good, but I think it should be noted in the title that this is a casserole, not a classic Pasta Bolognese. The Bolognese "sauce" ends up just a delicious flavored meat, it wasn't a sauce at all when I made it because after the 30 minutes were up all of the liquid had evaporated. The red wine and bacon really give the meat a delicious flavor though. I used penne; only thing I did differently was add light mozzarella and it wasn't very flavorful, I think I'll do regular next time!

 

[natalja.pullen]

Sooo good! Even without a celery, and with linguine pasta instead of penne, it was exellent! Thank you for posting this recipe.

 

[921541]

Absolutely beautiful. I cooked it exactly as the recipe read and it was really yummy and a good way of getting vegies into the kids. Makes a few dishes but small price to pay for a good wholesome dish.

 

[haircurlgirl]

Sounds fantastic...sure will try this one.