Macaroni with Homemade Creamy Tomato Sauce Recipe (2024)
By Shell
This post is brought to you by DairyPure milk and The Motherhood. All opinions are my own.
I absolutely love cooking dinner for my family. Getting creative in the kitchen is a lot of fun for me and I always feel great when I feed my family and they love it! It doesn’t always happen {who knew kids didn’t like broccoli?}but when a recipe is a hit for the whole family it’s like my own personal victory.
Recently I took something that I knew our whole family loved- pasta- and elevated it a bit. I made my own homemade tomato cream sauce and added some mozzarella cheese and some panko breadcrumbs for a little bit of a crunch. The result was a delicious dinner recipe that went quickly!
Macaroni with Homemade Creamy Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
1 lb elbow macaroni 2 tbspbutter 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 2 1/4 cups DairyPure milk {I used 2%} 1 15 oz. can tomato sauce 3 oz. tomato paste {1/2 of a small can} 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese Panko breadcrumbs as desired Nonstick cooking spray Fresh cilantro to taste
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook macaroni for 6 minutes, until al dente.
2. While macaroni boils, make creamy tomato sauce: melt 2 tbsp of butter in a large {at least 6 qt} skillet over medium heat. Once melted, mix in flour, then slowly pour in milk and whisk. Continue to heat sauce while carefully whisking to break up flour until smooth. Simmer on low for 3-4 minutes, until sauce is warmed through.
3. When macaroni is done, drain it and add it to the skillet with the sauce. Stir well to cover all macaroni evenly.
4. Transfer to an oven-safe casserole dish. Fill evenly and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 15 minutes.
5. Carefully remove dish from oven and add panko crumbs to your preferences- I put a light layer but you can always add more! Spray with nonstick cooking spray and bake for another 5 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and optionally add fresh cilantro to taste {our family loves cilantro!} or as a garnish. Enjoy!
This recipe was a total hit in our house, and it was super easy to make! The pasta actually tasted like the pasta my Italian aunt used to make- it brought me right back to my childhood. An added bonus is that this recipe reheats well, so you’ll be able to enjoy the leftovers, too!
I used DairyPure milk in this recipe because DairyPure milk is theonly milk backed by an exclusive Five-Point Purity Promise. What does that mean? All DairyPure milk is free of artificial growth hormones, is tested for antibiotics, is continually quality tested to ensure purity, only comes from cows that are fed a healthy diet, and is cold shipped from your trusted dairy! That’s what makes DairyPure so delicious, whether you’re enjoying the whole, 2% reduced fat, 1% low fat or skim/fat free milk variety.
You can learn more about DairyPure products on their website- and be sure to check out more delicious recipes using DairyPure!You can find DairyPure milk products at grocery stores nationwide.
Macaroni with Homemade Creamy Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
1 lb elbow macaroni
2 tbsp butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups DairyPure milk {I used 2%}
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
3 oz. tomato paste {1/2 of a small can}
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Panko breadcrumbs as desired
Nonstick cooking spray
Fresh cilantro to taste
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook macaroni for 6 minutes, until al dente.
While macaroni boils, make creamy tomato sauce: melt 2 tbsp of butter in a large {at least 6 qt} skillet over medium heat. Once melted, mix in flour, then slowly pour in milk and whisk.
Continue to heat sauce while carefully whisking to break up flour until smooth. Simmer on low for 3-4 minutes, until sauce is warmed through.
When macaroni is done, drain it and add it to the skillet with the sauce. Stir well to cover all macaroni evenly.
Transfer to an oven-safe casserole dish. Fill evenly and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 15 minutes.
Carefully remove dish from oven and add panko crumbs to your preferences- I put a light layer but you can always add more! Spray with nonstick cooking spray and bake for another 5 minutes.
Remove from oven and optionally add fresh cilantro to taste {our family loves cilantro!} or as a garnish. Enjoy!
Adding heavy cream to your jarred tomato sauce can transform it into a thicker, richer, creamy sauce that is velvety smooth. Your favorite premade sauce will not only become lighter in color, the cream will add a new depth of flavor to it.
Add a little milk to tomato sauce for a sweeter taste to offset the acidity of the tomatoes. This is a well-kept secret amongst Italian grandmothers. In northern Italy, Bolognese sauce is never made without milk! It can be added at the beginning or end of cooking.
TWO: Add the garlic and pepper and mix well, cook for a further minute. THREE: Add the tomato paste and let it cook for a minute or two, stirring. FOUR: Add the cream, you don't want a lot of heat here so switch to a low heat. The cream is at a very gentle simmer.
One common method to prevent your creamy ingredients from curdling is to stabilize the sauce by starting with a roux, which is a mixture of equal parts flour and fat (often butter).
Adding heavy cream will change the flavor of a tomato sauce, but it will also thicken it. Drizzle in the cream and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce has your desired consistency.
Whole milk is an excellent substitute for heavy cream. It adds richness to your pasta sauce without the excess fat. Simply simmer your favourite pasta sauce with whole milk until it thickens to your desired consistency. The result is a velvety and indulgent sauce that pairs beautifully with pasta.
A little sugar can make the rest of the flavors shine a little brighter, akin to adding vanilla to a chocolate cake. The goal is to amplify the natural sweetness of the tomatoes, not to turn the sauce sugary, so start with a pinch and work up if needed.
You make foods richer by adding fat to them. For a tomato sauce you could begin include bacon, pancetta, sausage or another meat to the sauce. I like to braise beef shanks in tomato sauce, shred the tender meat and mix it into the sauce. You could also simmer beef or chicken bones in the stock as if making a stock.
For creamy pasta, you must cook it to al dente in salted water and throw, so that it will stick to the pasta. Add a spoonful of pasta water to help thin the sauce if you want and keep it sticking, because starch helps it to stick and will also keep it as creamy as possible.
Temper the cream first. Add a liitle bit of tomato sauce at a time to the cream until it is warm and then add it all back into the tomato sauce. This will keep it from curdling.
First, in authentic Italian cuisine, the sauce is always tossed with the pasta before it ever hits the plate. Just before the sauce is done cooking, the hot pasta is added to the saucepan. Generally speaking, we recommend cooking the pasta in the sauce together for about 1-2 minutes.
Yes, that's right. Toss in a few tablespoons of butter, and let it melt into the sauce. If you've never tried it before, it might seem strange, but a little butter makes tomato sauce rich and smooth, and also balances out too much acidity, which is common in jarred sauces.
I don't recommend using milk in tomato sauce because it can curdle in acidity. Heavy whipping cream has a high milk fat percentage which allows it to easily be added to tomato sauce without the risk of curdling.
This is an easy one, because the fat content of heavy cream is so high that you can heat it, boil it, and even reduce it to your heart's content. It won't break, or separate. But do be aware that high acid additions — like citrus, wine, or tomatoes for example — might curdle it a bit.
Cream. Thickened cream works wonders to add volume to desserts, as well as add body to curries and sauces. Butter. Whisking in cold butter adds thickness and shine to a sauce or gravy.
Introduction: My name is Lakeisha Bayer VM, I am a brainy, kind, enchanting, healthy, lovely, clean, witty person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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