Penne Pizza with Marinara Sauce

It's my dream to go to Italy to cooking school someday (in the not so distant future!) but until I do, I like to use products that help me believe that I am already there. Botticelli Pasta, Sauce and Olive Oil do the trick nicely! I was very pleased when they reached out and asked me to do a product review on their products. Lucky me!

I am not a fan of jarred sauces, not when it is easy enough to make your own, but at this time of year, when tomatoes aren't flavorful and plenty, that a good jarred sauce comes in handy. My taste test for jarred sauces is harsh: open the jar, take out a spoonful and eat it, right out of the jar. It's hard to hide imperfections when you do it like this! A spoonful of Botticelli sauce is delicious. The tomatoes are bright and flavorful, the sauce is slightly chunky with a buttery note at the end. There is a natural sweetness, which I expected, given that Botticelli makes it sauce from Italian tomatoes. This was a sauce that would make a delicious meal. The best part: Botticelli products are found in our local supermarkets like Walmart and Price Chopper.

I made a penne pie not too long ago and I loved taking the pie out of the springform pan. I didn't want to make the same thing, but I wanted to use this pan. I decided to try to make a penne pizza.

I cooked up the pasta and added a thing or two, and then built it up like a pizza. The result: a delicious dish that looked like pizza, but still tasted like a great pasta dish!

Hamburger Penne Pizza

by Terri Steffes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients (6 servings)

8 oz dry pasta, cooked and drained
1 egg
1 T Italian seasoning
4 oz heavy cream
8 oz ground beef, cooked and drained
2 c Botticelli Marinara Sauce
1 c shredded mozzerella cheese
1 T olive oil

Instructions

Heat oven to 400.

Coat the inside of a springform pan with olive oil.

Beat the egg and milk with the Italian seasoning. Add pasta, toss to coat. Pour into prepared springform pan. Press down.

Spread 2 cups of sauce over the noodles.

Spread mozzerella cheese over sauce.

Sprinkle hamburger on top of cheese.

Place in oven and bake 20 minutes or until cheese turns golden brown.

Remove from oven, cool for 10 minutes.

Remove outside ring of springform pan, cut pizza into 6ths.

Serve.

The pasta was delicious and the olive oil gave the "crust" a delicious buttery flavor. The pizza held its shape very well. You might notice that my hamburger is chopped. That's because I had a leftover hamburger patty from last night's dinner!

I was given these Botticelli products for free in exchange for my honest feedback. I loved the sauce and olive oil and the pasta was wonderful as well. I would buy them again for my family.