Meaty Pasta Roll — A Hearty Lunchtime Recipe
It's well-known that pasta is an extremely versatile ingredient — not only can you fill tortellini or cannelloni with all sorts of things, they can also make a great filling themselves! And as this video shows, the same is also true for macaroni!
You'll Need:
- 1 lb ground beef
- salt & paprika to taste
- 7 oz long macaroni or bucatini noodles
- 5 oz tomato sauce
- 2 oz chopped bell peppers (red, green and yellow)
- 2 oz chopped zucchini
- thyme to taste
Here's How:
- Take a large piece of plastic wrap and spread the ground beef evenly over it in a rough square shape. Pat it down to give it a fairly smooth surface, suitable for covering with the macaroni noodles. Now season the meat with the salt and paprika.
- Next, take care of the pasta: bring some water to boil in a saucepan, add some salt, then the macaroni. Let it cook for 6 minutes, then strain it through a sieve and let it drip dry.
- Now lay the macaroni in rows close together on top of the meat. At the side where you plan to start rolling up the meat and pasta, leave a wide gap, otherwise creating the roll will be difficult. Take care to use the food wrap to help with the rolling, so that it doesn't fall apart later.
- Place the roll in a casserole dish and carefully remove the food wrap. Pour the tomato sauce evenly over the meat, then add the chopped vegetables. Garnish the whole thing with thyme leaves picked off the stalk.
- Then bake the roll, together with the sauce and vegetables, in a convection oven at 350°F for 25-30 minutes.
This really is something different from the normal meat loaf isn't? It's not every day you use pasta as a filling, but now you won't forget that it can make almost any dish that little bit tastier. Enjoy your meal!