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1
Get your pasta going while we begin the rest.
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2
Once the water comes up to a boil, add salt, and a little extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), which is a little trick to keep the pasta from sticking together, even after youve drained it.
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3
Cook until al dente; you want a bit of a bite to it, because it will continue cooking in the oven.
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4
Oh, speaking of, nows a good time to heat your oven to 350F.
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5
Put a small pat of butter and about 1 tablespoon of EVOO in a large saute pan, set on medium-high heat.
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Toss in your pancetta and cook until the pieces start to become crisp.
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Remove from the pan and set aside.
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8
Now say, Mmmm, pork fat, yum!
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There really isnt that much residual fat in the pan, so dont freak out.
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Now throw your diced onion in the SAME PANdont wipe out the pan, thats un-American!
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Cook the onions until theyre translucent, and a litte brown on the edges.
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Throw in your garlic, and whirl around for about a minute.
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Youll smell it when it becomes fragrant, and thats all the direct heat it needs.
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Now add your ground beef to the pan, and start breaking up into tiny crumbles.
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15
When most of the pink is gone, toss in your rosemary, and the mushrooms, and saute for about 3 minutes.
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Push the mixture over to one side of the pan, and toss in your chopped olives and roasted red peppers.
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Mix those around together to get them heated through, then mix everything together.
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Season with salt and pepper here to your liking.
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Now its time for your crushed tomatoes.
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Add those in, and stir to combine.
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Now is when I add in the 1/2 cup of fat-free milk.
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Its not neccesarily for flavor here, were just using it to cut the acidity of the tomatoes.
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23
You dont have to do it.
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24
Now, if you were going for a romanesco sauce, youd want to use something like CREAM here, then were talking about a completely different sauce.
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25
But Im trying to be good with this recipe.
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26
Let all of this loveliness cook on medium-low heat for about 15-20 minutes.
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You really want the flavors to dance around and play with each other, and give that tomato sauce time to mellow out.
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You want a slight bubbling in the pan, and give it a stir every couple of minutes.
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Now, throw your cooked pasta in and combine.
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30
Spray a large lasagna pan with cooking spray, and dump the mixture in.
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31
Sprinkle the top with your pancetta bits, and the cheese, and pop it into the oven for about 15-20 minutes.
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32
All you want here is for the cheese to melt and get a little brown, the edges to be bubbling a bit, and I love it when the ziti pieces that are poking out on top get crunchy.
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Mmm, good stuff!
