- Serves 4
- 15 minutes
- 15 minutes
- Rating: ★★★★
Ingredients
- 1 lb penne pasta
- 1 lb ground beef
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 medium clove garlic, crushed
- 1 tbsp crushed red pepper
- 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
- 2 oz finely grated Parmesan cheese
- Small handful minced flat-leaf parsley leaves
- salt to taste
Directions
- In a medium saucepan of boiling salted water, cook penne until just short of al dente, about 1 minute less than the package recommends. When finished drain and keep 1 cup of pasta water.
- Brown ground beef in separate pan and sit aside.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet, combine oil, garlic, and pepper flakes. Cook over medium low heat until garlic is very lightly golden, about 5 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, stir to combine, and bring to a simmer.
- When pasta is ready, transfer it to sauce and add ground beef.
- Add about 1/4 cup pasta water to sauce and increase heat to bring pasta and sauce to a vigorous simmer.
- Cook, stirring and shaking the pan and adding more pasta water as necessary to keep sauce loose, until pasta is perfectly al dente, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Adding extra olive oil to coat the pasta if desired stirring well to emulsify.
- Continue cooking pasta until sauce thickens and begins to coat noodles, then remove from heat and toss in cheese and parsley, stirring vigorously to incorporate.
- Season with salt and serve right away with additional grated Parmesan.