Pasta Casserole

We were invited to a party of a close family friend this week, and mom volunteered to bring a casserole. Naturally, mom had me do the cooking. (haha) I wanted to make a classic dish that also had unique twist. I personally had a craving for Italian-- so I decided to make a lasagna/manicotti/casserole creation.  I'm not sure what to call it-- leave a suggestion in the comments section in you have a fun name for it!

What you will need:

For the sauce:
2 pounds of ground sirloin
2 yellow onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 can crushed tomatoes (I used 2, but the final casserole had too much liquid in it-- so try just one)
1/2 cup dry red wine
4 sprigs of rosemary

For the pasta:
4 boxes of manicotti

Cheese:
8 oz of shredded mozzarella
4 oz of shredded parmesan


Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees 
• In a stock pot, bring water to a boil and cook your manicotti pasta for 7 minutes

• When the manicotti is cooked, drain the water from your stockpot. Toss manicotti with two tablespoons of olive oil so that the pasta wont stick together. (I didn't do this when I was cooking, and the manicotti all got stuck together and ripped apart--very frusturating.)
• Brown your ground beef in a skillet, along with your onions and garlic

•  Once your ground beef is cooked and onions are soft and slightly translucent, take skillet off of heat and drain fat
• Add your ground sirloin in with your crushed tomatoes, rosemary, and red wine
• Let your sauce simmer for a bit so that the flavors combine

•  Now, take a springform pan (this one was 10 inches) and place each manicotti upright
• Stuff each manicotti with meat sauce 

•  Once you have filled the springform pan with stuffed manicotti, cover the mozzarella on top

•  Place your casserole in the oven, and cook until the top of the casserole is a nice golden brown (about 30 minutes)

•  After you take your casserole out of the oven, sprinkle your parmesan cheese on top of it, and let it cool
• Once your casserole is cool to the touch, unhinge the springform pan sides and gently remove your casserole

• Enjoy!!

As you can tell from some of the pictures-- this casserole was SUPER messy to make. The sauce finds itself everywhere. Also, be patient with yourself when you are stuffing your manicotti-- it can be frustrating if your pasta rips apart, but the taste of the final product is worth it!