Honeycomb Flower Pasta

I'm on a red sauce kick these days. For so many years I just couldn't eat anything that was tomato based without a severe stomach ache and digestive problems. I've solved that problem and apparently it is Red Sauce City at the Blocko house.

Last night I finally got around to making Taste of Home's Wagon Train Pasta. The recipe kept popping up and I kept saying, "Oh, that looks good. Maybe I'll make that next week." It's really too bad I waited so long to make this because after Blockette took her first bite she said, "Mommy can you make this again?"

The recipe originally called for wagon wheels, but I could not find them at Meijer's. Why my store doesn't carry them I don't know. It's not like it's some exotic shape or anything. I did have Fiore noodles in my pantry. Fiore is apparently Italian for flower, but they remind me of Honeycomb cereal. Where did these Fiore noodles come from? I know I didn't get them at Meijer's because it was not a brand they carry. Maybe my pantry just spits out weird shapped noodles. Last week I found Turkey and Christmas shaped noodles in there! Those are an even bigger mystery than the Fiore noodles!

I doubled this recipe as well. I hate it when a recipe calls for 1/2 a pound of ground meat. I always wonder what I'm supposed to do with the other half. It's much easier to freeze red sauce than to freeze an already opened package of meat.

The last alteration to the recipe was simply because the only bread crumbs I had were panko. I wasn't about to use the panko mixed into the meat. Panko is for crispy crunchy coatings and toppings, not as a filler. Instead, I substituted crushed Ritz crackers and omitted the salt. I thought the crackers would add enough salt to the mix.

I'm not sure what made this so tasty. The sauce wasn't that different from other red sauces I've made in the past. I think the difference was the egg added to the meat mix. It gave the meat ragu something that made you say, "Hmmm what is that? It tastes different, but in a good way."

Wagon Train Pasta from Taste of Home
3 cups uncooked wagon wheel pasta
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
1/2 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons seasoned bread crumbs
1-1/2 cups meatless spaghetti sauce
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided

Cook pasta. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat egg, salt, garlic and pepper. Add beef and mix well. Sprinkle with Parmesan and bread crumbs; mix gently. Crumble beef mix into large skillet. Cook over med-high heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 2-4 min til heated through. Drain pasta; place in a serving bowl. Add beef mix; sprinkle with 1/2 c mozzarella. Toss til pasta well coated and cheese melted. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Yield: 5 servings.