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"I" - Italy - Baked Fusilli

Baked Fusilli recipe
 
Our little “Around the World for £4 or less” experiment took us to Italy this evening. What else would you cook on a budget from Italy? It had to be pasta really....
 
The Pasta should really have been Ziti which is a tubular pasta and would have held the sauce better. But we're tight, it's bitterly cold out and the local supermarket don't be a Gluten Free version anyway. Enough excuses, Fusilli did the job fine!
 
This is a recipe Sue created from two traditional recipes combined to keep it within of £4 budget. It's as traditional as possible.
 
Ingredients:-
 
Pasta of your choice ( We're not shapist here.....)
Oil (Olive if you have it. We didn't and used Vegetable Oil)
2 Onion chopped – 1 large, 1 small
3 cloves of Garlic minced
500g Minced Beef (Or Pork and Beef if you prefer)
2 tbsp Tomato Purée
1 tbsp dried Origano
1 tsp Dried Rosemary
½ tsp Chilli Flakes
1 tin chopped Tomatoes
5 tbsp Butter or Margarine
200g Cream Cheese (Philadelphia or shop own brand)
2 tbsp Basil, part to garnish
50 g Grated Italian style Cheese
100g Grated Mozzarella
1 Egg
Salt to season
 
Method:-
 
Making the Mariana Sauce
 
(1) Heat the tin of chopped Tomatoes and add the Butter, ½ tsp of Salt and an Onion sliced in half.
(2) Stir then let simmer for 15 minutes. 
(3) Remove the Onion and set the sauce aside.
 
Meat Sauce:-
 
(1) In a large frying pan add chopped Onion and Garlic to the Oil and fry until translucent.
(2) Add the Chilli flakes and Herbs and simmer.
(3) Add the mince and cook through until browned.
 
Pasta:-
 
(1) In a separate pan boil salted water, ad the Pasta and cook until Al Dente.
(2) Drain the Pasta.
(3) Add the mince mixture to the Mariana Sauce, add the Tomato Puree and a few spoonfulls of the Pasta water.
(4) Simmer for a further 10 minutes.
 
Cheese Sauce:-
 
(1) Mix the Cream Cheese and half of the grated Italian style Cheese, 1 Egg and a pinch of Salt.
 
Bringing it all together:-
 
(1) Drain the Pasta and add to the mince and sauce mixture. Stir and make sure the Pasta is well coated.
(2) In an ovenproof dish layer the Pasta mix then the Cream Cheese mix and repeat.
(3) Top off with Mozzarella and the remaining half of the Italian style grated Cheese.
(4) Bake at 180c until the topping is slightly browned and the whole disk is piping hot.
 
We served ours with a little dress salad and home-made Garlic bread.
 
 

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Baked Ziti

We do end up with bits and bots left from various dishes and sometimes need to round them up and put them to death  / Good use! A Pasta Bake was an outstanding way of using up various oddments of Cheeses etc. We also had a large pack of Pork mince from a meat deal in the freezer.

Realistically this recipe will make a hearty meal for 6 people. We might be eating it for a few days, but that kind of cool…..

Ingredients ( A very loose list! ):-

1 Onion, chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic. minced
Italian Herbs ( 2 tbsp of Dried Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, a Bay Leaf, Parsley and Thyme), plus Chilli flakes and Garlic Powder
Re-hydrated Wood Ear Mushrooms, finely chopped
250g Gluten free Pasta ( We used Macaroni), boiled and drained so it still has quite some bite
600g Pork Mince
2 tins of Chopped Tomatoes, plus a tin of water
Tomato Puree, a good squirt
Various Cheeses in lumps, grated and Italian style grated hard Cheese for the topping
1/3 of a tub of Soft Cheese
1/3 of a pot of Crème Fresh 
Salt & Pepper
Oil to fry

Method:-

(1) Fry the onions over a low heat and when softened add the Garlic.
(2) Fry for a couple more minutes and then add the Pork mince.
(3) Turn regularly and fry until all the mince is coloured.
(4) Add the chopped Tomatoes, water, Tomato Puree and Herbs and simmer to reduce for 20 minutes.
(5) Season with Salt & Pepper to taste.
(6) In a large oven proof casserole add a layer of the meat sauce to the bottom.
(7) Mix the remaining sauce and drained Pasta.
(8) Build alternate layers on Pasta / Sauce mix, Cheeses, Sauce mix until you reach the final Cheese top layer.
(9) Sprinkle the final layer with grated Cheese and the grated Italian style Grated Cheese.
(10) Place in a pre-heated oven at 180c  for 30 minutes or until the top is browned and crispy.
(11) Garnish with a little fresh Basil and serve.

This was a really good way of using up a few bits and bobs. We will be eating a second portion with Garlic Bread or Wedges this evening.
 

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