Ingredients
Kosher salt
1 (16-oz.) box farfalle (bowtie pasta)
1 lb. lean ground beef
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. adobo seasoning
1/4 tsp. paprika
1 (12-oz.) package beef smoked sausage, thinly sliced or quartered
1/4 c. onion, diced (optional)
1/4 c. green peppers, diced (optional)
1 (24-oz.) jar of your favorite red pasta sauce
1/4 tsp. rosemary-garlic seasoning (optional)
1 (8-oz.) bag finely shredded Mexican-blend cheese
Serve alongside Coca-Cola®
Preparation
Step 1Preheat the oven to 375º. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta for 10-12 minutes, or until tender. Drain and set aside.Step 2In a medium size pan over medium heat, add ground beef, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon. Add salt, pepper, adobo and paprika and cook until beef is no longer pink, then drain.Step 3Add sausage to ground beef and cook for another 4 mins; drain again if needed.Step 4Add onions and peppers to meat mixture and cook until softened. Stir in sauce and rosemary garlic seasoning, if using, to beef mixture and simmer on low for about 3-5 minutes.Step 5In a large casserole dish, combine cooked pasta with meat mixture and top with cheese. Bake for 8-12 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and melted. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Courtney Wright and her two daughters, a fourth grader and high school senior, live together in coastal Virginia, where Courtney is a rare native in town. The born and raised Virginian, who works as a massage therapist, loves her waterfront lifestyle, walking by the gorgeous boats just a stone’s throw from her house, enjoying the seaside air, and finding joy at home with her family. “When I get in my kitchen and it’s time to cook, I kind of feel like a princess,” she says, referencing a favorite animated movie about a princess (and a frog prince, naturally) who wants to open a restaurant in New Orleans. The film is said to be inspired by a legendary chef known as the Queen of Creole cuisine. “I love food, eating, cooking, grocery shopping, recipes, cooking shows, it just makes me happy,” she says. Read about her cooking style and one of her favorite meals to make for her kids: A baked dish that elevates the humble noodle with bowties, zesty meat, and a layer of gooey, bubbling cheese for a truly satisfying summer-night smash. What’s your typical weeknight cooking style? While I prefer to make things from scratch, I go for a semi-homemade meals type of vibe. I don’t have time to make my own sauce or use a pasta maker—as a working mom with two hungry kids at home, I can also be the princess of tasty kitchen hacks. I still get inspired to work creatively with the ingredients I see at the grocery store, figuring out how I can make them a little bit healthier. It’s fun! My kids are my food critics, and since we watch a lot of cooking shows together, they have the vocab to tell me my food is “a little bit dense” or “under seasoned”—and yes, their newly sophisticated words are a blessing and a curse! Where did your bowties recipe come from? My aunt and uncle have a huge house a couple cities away, and they host birthdays and cookouts over the summer. Back in 2005, my great aunt brought some cheesy bowtie pasta, a fun riff on baked mac and cheese, to one of their cookouts, and we all just loved that dish. We’ve all been hooked on it ever since! Spaghetti is fine, but bowties just make everything so much more fun. Each family now replicates it at home, with our own spins on the original. I add more rosemary and oregano and melt extra cheese, and I add sausage. My kids like it, my extended family likes it. Once, I brought leftovers to work and my coworker ate it—cold! What’s special about cooking in your house? At my place, bowties are a ritual, a comfort food. If we have something good happen—and I’m one of those moms who will celebrate anything, honor roll, St. Patrick’s Day, whatever—it’s like, hey, let’s make bowties. I always have about 2-3 boxes of bowties and a few cans of spaghetti sauce in my pantry. A nice cold soda always pairs well with a hot, out-of-the-oven dinner. It might sound a little cheesy, but a Coke with my cheesy bowties makes it feel a little more special. A Coke and a smile. That phrase will never go out of style.
