How to Make a Forno

Growing up Catholic there was always a milestone to celebrate. Baptism, Catechism, confirmation, feast days, etc. My sister made her confirmation today and to celebrate, I was asked to make her favorite dinner for her and 14 other guests. Her favorite dinner is an amazingly simple pasta al forno that takes minutes to make and tastes like you've slaved over the stove for hours.

It was an incredibly long day filled with family, friends, laughter and great food. It was exactly the way Sundays should be.

Below is a smaller recipe for the pasta al forno recipe that I used only because I'm pretty sure nobody needs to make enough pasta to feed 20 people on a regular basis. If you do, just quadruple the recipe and you should have enough to feed everyone, have seconds and still have leftovers.

 Please excuse the fine china in the picture, but I'll be damned if I'm cooking for nearly 20 people and then washing their dishes too. A special thank you to Hill Country Fare foam plates. They're bad for the environment, but the way I figure, there's enough tree hugging hippies and conspiracy buying scarved hipsters to make up for the fact that I just don't care enough. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to go out making six pack necklaces for ducks or strangling baby whales (although, frankly, watching "Whale Wars" has made me realize that Whale meat looks incredibly delicious), but I'm also not going to stop using Styrofoam or aerosol hairspray. I'm from Texas! I need that hairspray. If that offends you, you'll probably enjoy the Birkenstock ad I placed in this just for you. Honestly though,  if Mother Nature were a real entity she'd jump at the chance to eat this dish no matter what it was served on. She'd probably even club a seal for it. Allegedly. Do I have to say allegedly here?                                  


Who cares? Manja!


                                                                         

We served this along with a simple salad of iceberg and red leaf lettuce with carrots and tomato and toasted garlic bread.

                           Pasta al Forno                              Serves about 6- 8

• 1 package (12 oz) of short pasta such as penne or ziti
• about 4 cups of homemade sauce or 1 (26 oz) jar of Prego Fresh Mushroom Italian Sauce
• 1 package of Italian sausage with casing removed
• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 c shredded mozzerella
• 1/2 c shredded Parmasan (not the powdered stuff)
• salt
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Boil pasta in salted water until al dente. The water should taste like the ocean. 

While pasta is boiling, in a separate pot, brown beef and sausage together. Drain and stir in sauce.
Pour meat and sauce mixture over cooked and drained pasta and mix until all pasta is coated with sauce.

Pour into a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Top with Mozzerella and Parmasan.

Place in oven for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly with slight browning.

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