Cheesy Meat Sauce and Pasta Casserole

This is another back to basics recipe for the winter, and possibly a take along to a friend's house for lunch or dinner.

Gather together "twistie" pasta, shredded cheddar cheese, bread crumbs, olive oil, and basil.

 Also red tomato pasta sauce of your choosing, and one and one half (1 1/2) pounds of ground beef chopped meat

Render the chopped meat in a heavy cast iron frying pan.

Drain off any extra liquid.

 Stir in red tomato sauce

 Cook for a short time.

 Fill a large sauce pot with cold water, and sprinkle in salt.

 Prepare casserole dish with a coating of olive oil.

 Cook pasta until almost done.

 Drain pasta

On arrange casserole elements before starting to combine sauce and pasta.

 Spread a bit of sauce in the bottom of the casserole dish.

 Add a layer of pasta,

 then sprinkle  a layer of shredded cheddar cheese,

 next a layer of meat sauce.

 Continue layering pasta,cheese and sauce until casserole is full.

 End layering with a top layer of shredded cheese.

 Sprinkle a small amount of bread crumbs on top to add crunch.

 Add basil flaked on top for flavor.

Bake at 350 degrees F until cheese, sauce, and pasta are combined until well melted.

Now you can carry the casserole to a friend's for a comfort style meal.  

Making an Antipasto Party Platter

 Friends were having a birthday party.  I asked,  "what can I bring?"   They said, "How about an Antipasto Platter?"

 So I gathered the ingredients: a really good ham sliced very thin, Provolone sliced thin, Swiss cheese, Pepperoni sliced thin, Genoa Salami sliced thin, fresh Mozzarella cheese in Ciliegine Cherry sized balls, Spring Mix greens, Queen sized Pimiento Stuffed Green Olives, large Pitted Ripe Olives, Artichoke Hearts packed in oil, Roasted Red Peppers, Stuffed Sweet Peppers in olive oil, Fresh Basil Leaves, Extra Virgin Olive oil,  and Balsamic Vinegar, Sour Dough and Rustic Italian Bread.

 Select a really large platter, oval or square, better make it a large one.  I started by making a bed of the baby lettuce leaves.

 Then I rolled the slices of ham.  I asked the butcher for a recommendation and he suggested the ham that usually comes as Spiral ham.  They carried it in the deli section packaged without the bone.  It was truly delicious.

 Then I cut the Provolone in halves,

 strained and rinsed the Mozzarella cheese.

 I started to arrange the ham and cheese on the platter.

 Next I strained the black and

 the stuffed green olives.

 The arrangement started to come together.

 I strained the artichoke hearts

 the Roasted Red Peppers, and  the cute stuffed Sweet Peppers.

 Things were coming out well, so I added the sliced Pepperoni that I also rolled up.

 I put the tops of the Basil leaves,

 rolled the Genoa Salami and Swiss Cheese and added these to the platter design.

 Since this platter was  going to travel, I cut a piece of waxed paper and laid it on top,

 then wrapped the whole thing in extra long plastic wrap.

 I pre-sliced the Italian and Sour Dough bread and

 chopped and bagged the rest of the Basil leaves, to sprinkle over the bread.

 All of that went into zip lock bags, and into a matching bowl.

I found these little plastic forks at a paper goods store, which are step up from tooth picks, and they worked well with this type of hors d'oeuvre.

 Later, at the party we placed the two platters together on a sideboard, along with small white plates, the tiny forks, cocktail napkins, and two flavors of olive oil.  As it happened, it kept everyone happy while we waited for the guest of honor.  There are many other pickled condiments that you can add to your platter, these were the ones that I put together.