Ingredients :
1 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon of canola oil
salt to taste
black pepper, oregano, chopped garlic to taste
2 28-ounce cans of tomato puree (the original recipe called for one, so I think this is what made mine more “tomatoey”)
2 pounds of lean ground meat
1/2 box of macaroni
1 cup each of grated cheddar and mozzarella
Instructions :
Sweat the onions in the oil with salt.
Add the meat to the onions and cook.
Add salt, oregano, black pepper and garlic.
Add the tomatoes and bring to a low heat, then reduce the heat to low and cook for one hour. (This is where I added the second can of tomatoes because if I had let the thick meat paste simmer for an hour it would have dried up in 10-15 minutes. So I added the tomatoes here)
Cook the macaroni in boiling water until it’s half done.
Drain them and add them to the tomatoes. Remove the paste from the heat. Add more salt and other seasonings as needed, and cover.
When cooled, 20-30 minutes and the dough has absorbed the juices from the tomatoes, transfer to a large baking dish and cover with aluminum foil. It can remain like this for several hours, refrigerated for up to two days or frozen for a few weeks.
Bake it in a 400-degree oven until it is very hot (about 45 minutes if it is cold at room temperature). Just before it is ready to eat, remove the aluminum foil, cover the macaroni with the cheese and roast until it looks beautiful.