Not-sanga Pasta Toss

I learned this while watching Rachel Ray at gram’s house with Uncle Hank. It looked so good that I wrote it down, and have made it three times since. It’s delicious! The Worcestershire sauce gives the meat a nice spicy punch.

ingredients

1 pound curly short cut pasta (recommended: campanelle by Barilla, fusilli or cavatappi
Coarse salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound ground sirloin
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Black pepper
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon, several drops, Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup beef stock
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup fresh basil, about 20 leaves
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

directions

1
Heat a large pot of water to boil for pasta. Salt water and cook pasta to al dente. Heads up: you will need a ladle of the starchy cooking water to help form sauce before draining.
2
Heat a deep nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil. Add the meat and break it up into small bits as it caramelizes. Once meat has good color to it, 4 to 5 minutes, add garlic, onions and red pepper flakes and season with salt, pepper, allspice and Worcestershire sauce.
3
Cook another 5 minutes, deglaze the meat and onions with red wine, cook off a minute, then combine about 1/2 cup of stock into the meat. Stir in the tomatoes and bring to a bubble. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 5 minutes.
4
Place ricotta cheese in the bottom of a shallow bowl. Add a ladleful of boiling, starchy pasta water to the ricotta and stir to combine. Add a couple of handfuls of grated Parmesan to the ricotta and mix it in.
5
Drain pasta. Toss hot pasta with cheeses. Add meat sauce to the bowl and combine. Tear or shred the basil and add to the meat and pasta, toss again. Taste to adjust salt and pepper.