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a baking dish of smooth diagonal-cut mostaccioli tubes in red turkey tomato sauce with fine carrot and celery pieces beneath melted mozzarella and fontina, with no ridges on the pasta tubes
Rachel Kim

Baked Mostaccioli

Smooth-cut mostaccioli carries a turkey-and-tomato sauce with finely diced carrot and celery, making a hearty pan without a ricotta filling. Cook those vegetables until softened before the tomatoes go in; they should blend into the sauce rather than stay as crunchy cubes between the pasta tubes. A little fontina melts through the middle while mozzarella browns on top, and the covered stage gives the partially cooked pasta time to finish without drying the edges of the casserole.
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes
Servings: 8
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb dry mostaccioli
  • 1 tbsp fine salt for pasta water
  • 1 lb ground turkey
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 small yellow onion finely diced
  • 1 medium carrot finely diced
  • 1 celery rib finely diced
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 can crushed tomatoes 28 oz
  • 1 can tomato sauce 15 oz
  • 1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
  • 1/2 tsp fine salt for sauce
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 4 oz fontina grated
  • 6 oz low-moisture mozzarella grated

Method
 

  1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Cook onion, carrot and celery in oil in a wide saucepan over medium heat for 7 to 8 minutes until softened.
  2. Add turkey and cook for 7 to 9 minutes, breaking into small crumbles, until it reaches 165°F. Stir in garlic for 30 seconds.
  3. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, sauce salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, boil mostaccioli in water with the tablespoon salt until 3 minutes short of the package time and drain.
  4. Fold pasta and fontina into the sauce and transfer to a deep 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Scatter mozzarella over the top and cover with foil.
  5. Bake for 25 minutes, then uncover for 8 to 10 minutes until the center reaches 165°F and the top is lightly browned. Rest for 10 minutes before serving.