Roasted Beef and Carrot Spaghetti Traybake
Minced beef, carrots and onion roasted together until the edges caramelize, then tossed with spaghetti and a quick tomato pan sauce. A hearty high-protein dinner from one tray and one pot.
- Total
- 55 min
- Prep 15 · Cook 40
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Medium
You'll practice: Roasting · Deglazing
- Savory
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Heat the oven to 220°C. Peel the onion and cut it into 1 cm wedges. Peel the carrots and cut them into 1.5 cm thick batons.
~10 min
-
Spread the onion and carrots on a large baking tray, drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil, season with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper, and toss to coat. Roast for 20 minutes until the edges start to brown.
~20 min
Roasting vegetables alone first lets their sugars caramelize and sweeten before the beef is added, which would otherwise release steam and prevent browning.
Roast the carrots and onion on their own first: they need the full 20 minutes to sweeten and caramelize, and adding the beef at the start would steam them instead.
Roasting Spread vegetables in a single layer with space between pieces so they caramelize rather than steam; stir only once halfway to let edges brown.
-
While step 2 cooks
While the vegetables roast, bring 1 l water to a boil in a large pot. Add 1/2 tsp salt and the spaghetti, and cook until al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain, reserving a little of the cooking water in the pot.
~9 min
Cooking pasta to al dente keeps it firm so it doesn't turn mushy when tossed with the hot sauce.
-
Pull the tray from the oven, crumble the minced beef over the vegetables, drizzle with the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and season with the remaining 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Roast for 15 minutes more, stirring once halfway, until the beef is browned and cooked through to 71°C.
~15 min
Cooking beef to 71°C ensures it is safely cooked through while browning for flavor.
Roasting Spread vegetables in a single layer with space between pieces so they caramelize rather than steam; stir only once halfway to let edges brown.
-
Tip the can tomatoes into the hot tray with the beef and vegetables, scraping up the browned bits, and return to the oven for 5 minutes until the sauce bubbles and thickens slightly.
~5 min
Adding tomatoes to the hot tray and scraping up browned bits deglazes the pan, dissolving fond into the sauce for deeper flavor.
Deglazing Add the tomatoes while the tray is hot and scrape the browned bits immediately, before they cool and stick, to build a glossy sauce.
-
Add the drained spaghetti to the tray and toss everything together with the wooden spoon, loosening with a splash of the reserved cooking water if needed, until the strands are coated in the tomato sauce. Serve hot.
~5 min