Pasta - Fresh Veggie 

Bold fresh tomato meat sauce with spinach and zucchini. I made it in the evening, held it all night in the oven, then added the pasta a few hours before serving.

~I did 6 qts from the freezer with 2.2 lb pasta, 3 1/2 lb beef, 3 zucchini, 1 bag spinach, 16 oz cottage cheese. Very good.

~In 15 qt brazier pan I used 1 1/2 lb ground beef and 1 pack Italian sausage, spinach, zucchini, 1 sweet onion, celery, garlic and tomatoes. I used 2 lb twisty pasta but I could've used only 1 lb. The pan was a little more than half full before the pasta, then 2/3 full after the pasta. Served 30 easily.
In 15 qt brazier simmer down fresh tomatoes - 6 to 8 qts which is 12 to16 lb. [Fresh tomatoes with skins on, run briefly through blender to chop up the skins - from the freezer or fresh.] If they are not already salted, salt them very lightly. The salt intensifies as they reduce!

Salt 4-5 lb ground beef [1 t salt each lb]. Let sit until salt is inside the beef. Add this to the reduced tomatoes. Stir and simmer.

Simmer in garlic.

Stir in carrots. Simmer.

Stir in celery and sweet onion [cooking onions should be sauteed first]. Simmer.

Simmer in chopped fresh spinach.

Check for salt. Season with black pepper and basil and oregano just to taste. The fresh veggies have quite a lot of flavor by themselves.

Salt zucchini generously and wait for it to move inside. Wipe dry, dice and add quite late to keep a crunch or a little earlier to soften up.

You could simmer a real twisty pasta right in the sauce, but I think the pasta cooked in the sauce comes out a little pasty. If using penne boil until almost done in not too much salted water [1 qt/lb with 1 t/qt]. Ideally you want to boil the water away so you keep all the beautiful starch. Stir as they start to soften to keep from sticking together.

Stir pasta into sauce.

Dab in cottage cheese [it has more fat than ricotta, which is what I want] leaving it in clumps. Or if putting into a flatter serving dish layer cottage cheese on top with some mozzarella.

*The mozzarella stirred in clumps up and is not very appetizing.

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