This excellent recipe is a perennial favorite.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 25 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package rotini pasta
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 pound ground beef
- 6 tomatoes, grated
- 1 sweet yellow onion, grated
- ½ cup water
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon white sugar
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 4 cups shredded Mizithra cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil; cook the rotini at a boil until tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes; drain. Transfer to a large bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir ground beef until browned, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, onion, water, tomato paste, cinnamon, sugar, cayenne, salt, and pepper; stir to combine. Simmer meat sauce over medium-low heat until flavors combine, 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Pour meat sauce over rotini; mix well. Pour half the pasta mixture into a casserole dish; sprinkle with half the Mizithra cheese and half the mozzarella cheese. Top with remaining pasta mixture; sprinkle remaining Mizithra cheese and mozzarella cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted and bubbling, about 40 minutes.
- Mizithra cheese is a hard cheese (usually comes in the shape of a soft-ball sized ball). Mizithra cheese will not melt entirely, like regular cheese (lack of oil) and will mainly keep its shredded shape, but softened. You can find in it any international market, or where specialty cheeses are sold. If you can’t find any, use shredded sharp cheddar with the mozzarella instead.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 515 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 95 g |
| Cholesterol | 69 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 24 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 1278 mg |
| Sugars | 11 g |
| Fat | 22 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I used ground turkey, oat milk, king Arthur gluten-free all purpose flour, gluten-free rotini, country crock plant based buttery spread, and go-veggie dairy free parmesan in place of the regular ingredients as my wife can’t eat dairy, beef, or gluten. It turned out amazing. We’re always looking for new recipes to try. I love the challenge of finding some good sounding recipe and figuring out how to make it gluten-free and dairy free and still taste good. This recipe easily transfered, and will become an occasional regular on our home menu.
The cinnamon n sugar gave unique taste. Being tomato season I used fresh tomatoes. Sharp and mozzarella cheese was used.
My husband is from the Peloponesian region of Greece we liked the addition of the mozzerella cheese, but the sauce is missing approx ( to taste ) 8 whole cloves and a bayleaf….the only way my husband will eat it.
I am so sorry to be the first reviewer and not leave a rave review for this recipe. I do love Greek food and this was OK. Not spicy, almost bland. I found it interesting but it is too much cheese for me. Not sure how I could change it to something I would like better. Sorry.