Pasta casserole in the oven

The bulk of Italian cuisine requires serious culinary skills and a lot of free time, but there are products with which you can create an almost Italian dish in a hurry. In particular, these include pasta, which are used not only under the sauce, but also baked with vegetables or meat, under a crispy cheese crust, which turns them into a full-fledged hearty lunch.

Casserole pasta with minced meat in the oven: a recipe with photos

In fact, a pasta casserole can be absolutely anyone, even fruit, because pasta is just plain fresh dough, the taste of which depends on its fillers. In Italian cuisine, it is customary to combine any pasta with different types of cheese and sauces, and if you follow In this tradition, non-sweet foods like vegetables and meat will look much better as additional components. Pasta casserole with minced meat keeps on a thin line between Russian and Italian cuisine, and is familiar to every hostess: in 30-40 minutes. From the minimum set of ingredients, you get a nutritious dish that even men will like. It remains only to choose a sauce and make a vegetable salad as a side dish.

Composition:

1. Minced beef - 340 g
2. Pasta ("tubules" or "horns") - 300 g
3. Wheat flour - 2 tbsp.
4. Chicken Egg - 2 pcs.
5. Whole milk - 200 ml
6. Butter - 15 g
7. Hard cheese - 120 g
8. Fresh herbs (basil, dill) - to taste
9. Condiments to taste
10. Bulb onion - 1 pc.

Cooking:

• In a deep pan with thin walls, heated butter, in which you want to throw shredded onions. When it becomes transparent, wheat flour is poured in there, and after 1-2 minutes. ground beef is laid, which is within 30-40 minutes. stewed under a lid and on low heat. 4-5 min. until the end of the specified time, it is necessary to salt and flavor it with any seasonings, if necessary. In case the mince starts to fry too much, you can pour 50-70 ml of boiled water into the pan.
• Salted water is brought to a boil next to the pan, pasta is poured into it and cooked for 2-3 minutes at medium capacity under the lid. less than indicated on the package. This method of cooking is called "al-dente" and it is perfect for casseroles, because it allows you to leave pasta dense, does not allow them to fall apart and stick together. After cooking, the pasta must be dropped into a colander and left for 3-4 minutes to eliminate excess moisture.
• Traditional casserole is poured with a mixture of beaten eggs with milk, which can be replaced with drinking cream or natural yoghurt. Some chefs advise here to add a little wheat flour and about 1/3 of the total grated cheese.
• It is recommended to cook pasta casserole in an oven in a glass form: its bottom is lined with a thick layer of pasta, arranged individually for one another butt to butt, then they need to be poured thinly with cheese, after which a layer of stewed meat is formed. The top layer of the casserole is laid out from the remaining half of the pasta, which is poured with a milky egg mixture and decorated with the remaining cheese.
• If the oven evenly heats all the heating elements, and the form can be positioned at an average level, the casserole does not need to be covered with foil - all components will be cooked with the same speed. Otherwise, first 20 min. the dish is prepared under the foil at a temperature of 175 degrees, and for the next 15 minutes. the temperature rises to 220 degrees and the foil is removed. Before serving, casserole of pasta with minced meat sprinkled with fresh herbs.

Exotic Casserole for Real Gourmets

For those who want variety, as well as treat yourself and loved ones, more non-traditional recipes for pasta casseroles are suitable. For example, with seafood soaked in wine sauce, and a fruit and vegetable complement of pineapples and avocados. The top of such a casserole is traditionally made with grated cheese with cream, and pineapple juice will serve as an impregnation. Preparing a dish even faster than the options with meat, due to a similar set of components.

Composition:

1. Shrimp - 300 g
2. Pasta (short spaghetti) - 250 g
3. Low fat cream - 150 ml
4. Canned pineapples - 200 g
5. Avocado (pulp) - 100 g
6. Sour apple - 1 pc.
7. Soft cheese - 250 g
8. Tomatoes - 2 pcs.
9. Olive oil - 1 tbsp.
10. Lime - 1 pc.
11. White wine - 20 ml
12. Condiments to taste

Cooking:

• Heat olive oil in a deep frying pan, add lime juice (the pulp can be discarded), and fry in this mixture for 1-2 minutes. lime zest. After the specified time, it should be discarded, and in a hot liquid pour wine. As soon as the mixture boils, peeled shrimps are put into it, the pan is covered with a lid, and the fire is reduced to medium. Cook shrimp in an alcoholic sauce need 3-5 minutes.
• Next to it, pasta is boiled in a saucepan with salted and seasoned water, for which they are given a little less time than indicated on the package. After this, the fire is turned off, and without it, under the lid, the pasta is allowed to stand for 1-2 minutes before dumping them into a colander.
• Pineapples and avocado pulp are cut into cubes, cheese is rubbed and combined with cream. The glass form is filled with layers in the following order: macaroni, avocado, shrimps, pineapples, macaroni. The dish is carefully poured over the juice from canned pineapples (50 ml), after which the cream cheese mixture and fresh herbs: basil and mint are spread over its surface. At a temperature of 190 degrees without additional convection the dish will be baked for 25 minutes.

If you want to have a hearty meal, but are tired of the usual combination of side dishes with meat or fish, pay attention to pasta casseroles in the oven. Even without the protein component, they are very nutritious, and the seasonings and sauces alter the taste of pasta so much that even a simple cheese casserole will be perceived as a masterpiece of culinary art.