Skillet Mostaccioli
Penne, sausage, and marinara rebuilt as a one-pot camp skillet.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 80
- protein
- 31 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 30 min
- water
- 900 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Penne or rigatoni | 12 oz | |
|---|---|---|
| Shelf-stable Italian sausage | 8 oz | dry-cured or a vacuum-sealed cooked link, sliced |
| Marinara sauce | 1 jar, 24 oz | a pouch weighs less than glass |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Dried oregano | 1 tsp | |
| Dried basil | 1 tsp | |
| Red pepper flakes | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste | |
| Shredded mozzarella | 4 oz | low-moisture, keeps a day or two unrefrigerated |
| Grated parmesan | 1/4 cup | the shelf-stable green-can kind |
Method
- Boil about 900 ml of water in the pot. Salt it, add the pasta, and cook until just short of soft. Drain most of the water off, leaving a splash, and tip the pasta into a bowl or the pot lid.
- Put the pot back on low heat with the oil. Brown the sliced sausage for four or five minutes.
- Add the dried onion, garlic powder, oregano, basil, and pepper flakes. Stir for a minute so the onion picks up moisture and the spices bloom in the fat.
- Pour in the marinara, return the pasta, and stir. Simmer three or four minutes until it thickens.
- Scatter the mozzarella and parmesan over the top, cover, and cut the heat. Five minutes off the flame melts the cheese without scorching the bottom.
The oven version bakes to melt cheese and set the top. There is no oven, so the pot does both jobs: the residual heat under a lid melts mozzarella in about five minutes, and the sauce thickens on its own once the pasta stops releasing water. Drain hard before the sauce goes in or you get soup.
Fresh onion and garlic are replaced with dried minced onion and garlic powder, which rehydrate in the sausage fat and sauce. Low-moisture mozzarella and canned parmesan survive a day or two out of a cooler; if the trip runs longer, move this meal to the first night.
Packing
Pasta and the spice blend go in one bag. Sauce in a pouch, sausage and cheese sealed separately and eaten on night one or two of the trip.
Variations
- Skip the sausage and add a handful of dried mushrooms rehydrated in the pasta water.
- A packet of tomato paste stirred in tightens a thin sauce.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/web-stories/the-best-baked-mostaccioli-recipe