My Niece is Hungry: Oslo Pasta Bake

My niece questioned why my sis is getting meals to review (all those "my sis is hungry" posts I've been running), as she is also hungry. So today it's "my niece is hungry"! Here's her review - recipe and notes follows what she has to say:

This weekend my Mom came to visit me in Chicago, and brought a dish in a cooler that my aunt made for me. (I didn’t even ask what it was but excited for 1. Free food and 2. Who doesn’t love pasta? 

At first glance, the dish looked like some sort of lasagna/red sauce casserole? The small bag of shredded cheese on top of the dish made me excited (more cheese!) and her directions seemed easy so I popped it in the oven and was ready to give it a try. I’m not really sure what kind of meat she used but it was good.  It wasn’t overly seasoned and not too heavy (where afterward you’d most likely feel ‘gross/too-full’??)  Overall I thought the pasta was super delicious; total comfort food, yet felt somewhat ‘healthy’ thanks to the sauce. The base of the sauce felt more like real tomatoes than pasta sauce, which I enjoyed. My only suggestion/recommendation would be to enhance the spiciness...maybe something with more heat, or even additional pepper. I personally would’ve liked it over a bed of spinach or chopped spinach or another “green” for dimension (which I did the second day, when I packed leftovers my for lunch!) I’d definitely enjoy this meal again (take 2 ‘my niece is hungry?’ or maybe I’ll save the recipe and give it a whirl!)

Personally, I’d love if there were more ‘my favorite niece is hungry’ recipes 😉!!

 😊 Thanks Auntie/Make My Daycamp!!

XOX - Buffy

Jill here: This pasta dish is layers of tomato meat sauce and pasta in a cheese sauce. I have no idea where this recipe came from, it's in my file of clippings to try sometime and the original name is "Oslo Macaroni Bake" which is slightly confusing to me since it calls for rotelle pasta and not macaroni. So I've renamed it "Oslo Pasta Bake"; it would be fine to use other shapes for sure - I'm thinking any short pasta that you'd use in macaroni and cheese like shells, bowties, penne, heck even macaroni! The way the original recipe is worded is also a little confusing to me - I'm just going to give you the recipe as I made it:

1 pound lean ground beef
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped red pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 16 oz. can tomatoes, chopped, drained

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 cups milk
2 cups shredded Swiss/Gruyere cheese, divided

3 cups cooked rotelle pasta
1 8oz. can tomato sauce

for the meat sauce:
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan, add the mushrooms, onion, red pepper, and season with salt and pepper; cook until the veggies are tender. Add the ground beef breaking it into small pieces (I don't like big chunks of meat in my sauce, do it how you like) and cook until the beef is done, stirring often. Stir in the chopped tomatoes. Set aside. (I drained off any standing liquid before assembling this casserole).

for the pasta and cheese layer:
In a saucepan, melt remaining 1/4 butter. Add flour and cook, stirring, several minutes. Remove from heat. Gradually blend in milk; cook, stirring, until thickened and smooth. Stir in 1 1/2 cups cheese. Stir in cooked pasta.

To assemble and bake:
Alternate layers of pasta and meat mixtures in a buttered 2 qt. baking dish. Top with tomato sauce. Bake at 350'F for 35 minutes, top with remaining cheese*. Bake 5 minutes longer until the cheese is melted.

Makes 6-8 servings.

*note: the extra 1/2 cup cheese you put on after baking for 35 minutes is the small bag of cheese that Macey is referring to in her review. I put the casserole together for her but didn't bake it, sent it wrapped up with the above baking directions.

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