Food & Drink

All-American Barbecued Beef with Noodles

Change-up your pasta routine with this unexpectedly easy, saucy dinner from Michele Urvater’s Monday-to-Friday Pasta. All you need is 25 minutes, some pantry ingredients, and noodles of your choice!

Photo © jeffwilcox

All-American Barbecued Beef with Noodles

Serves 6

This simple recipe lends itself to a world of variations—all of them flavorful. There is more sauce here than I ordinarily pair with pasta because the hollow pasta has a lot of surface area for trapping the sauce. You can add steamed fresh or thawed frozen vegetables to the meat to round out the meal, or serve a side of carrots, corn, or anything else in season. Good cheeses to serve with this are aged Monterey Jack or crumbled sharp Cheddar.

Salt
1 pound ziti or rigatoni
1 onion
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 pound ground round
3 to 4 tablespoons barbecue sauce
1 can (14½ ounces) crushed tomatoes
4 to 6 drops Tabasco sauce (optional)

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until it is tender but still firm to the bite, 10 to 12 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, peel and finely slice the onion.

3. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté just to coat them with oil, about 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium, add the Worcestershire sauce, and cover the skillet. Cook until the onions are tender, 4 to 5 minutes.

4. Uncover the skillet, add the beef, and cook, stirring to break up the lumps, just until it is no longer pink, about 1 minute. Add the barbecue sauce and crushed tomatoes. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is hot, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and Tabasco sauce.

5. Drain the pasta and divide it among six shallow bowls. Spoon the sauce over each portion, and serve immediately.

Variations

In step 4, when you add the crushed tomatoes, also add 2 cups of diced freshly steamed vegetables or 1 package of frozen corn, sliced carrots, or petite peas, thawed.

Substitute 4 minced garlic cloves for the onions.

Sauté ½ pound sliced mushrooms along with the onions.

The Ground Chicken Alternative: For people on low-fat or low-calorie diets, ground chicken is a terrific substitute for ground beef. (When you make this substitution, keep in mind that poultry cooks more quickly than beef.) Ground chicken should look moist, and if it’s prepackaged, there should be no liquid in the bottom of the package. Because it is so perishable, you should either use it on the same day you buy it or freeze it (wrap the chicken in 4-ounce portions; it should keep for a month)

Rev up your family’s pasta routine with over 175 delicious pasta recipes that take less than a half-hour to prepare. For more recipes like this, check out Monday-to-Friday Pasta by Michele Urvater—just $2.99 this month!