Southwestern Baked Spaghetti

Picture by Pat Farrell 

 

I had opportunity to eat all sorts of menu items in my 30 years of Navy service most of that on ships and underway. I loved it when the Mess Specialists would make their baked spaghetti. It is easy to prepare and tastes great. I am presenting my rendition of baked spaghetti hear calling it Southwestern only because of the roasted red peppers I added. The spaghetti sets up just fine without the addition of eggs as might be expected in the other baked spaghetti.

 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 box (8 ounces) spaghetti, broke into thirds & cooked as per instructions.
• 1/2 lb. ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 24 oz. jar of Newman’s Own pasta sauce – Sockarooni or any other meatless sauce you prefer)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
• 2 Large Red Bell Peppers (roasted)

Preparation:

Roast peppers over gas stove burner until totally blackened then place roasted peppers in a paper lunch bag and seal to let peppers steam.

Remove peppers from bag after 5 minutes and splay them open. Remove stems and seeds from inside, flip over and remove blackened skin by lightly scraping with a knife being careful not to tear the flesh. Small bits of skin can be left for added flavor.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

While the spaghetti is cooking brown the ground beef, onion and garlic in a large skillet until meat is no longer pink then drain excess grease. Stir in the pasta sauce and cook until thoroughly heated.

Combine the drained cooked spaghetti and cheeses into the meat sauce and mix until well blended. The hot pasta noodles and sauce will melt the cheese into the spaghetti. Spray a 9×13 inch casserole dish or pie plate with Pam non-stick spray and pour in the spaghetti mixture.

Top the spaghetti mixture with the roasted red peppers covering the surface of the spaghetti as much as possible. Place into the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes

Remove from oven and serve.