Heat 4 liters of water in a large, wide saucepan. As soon as the liquid boils, salt it (a tablespoon of salt is enough). Once the water boils, add the pasta and cook for about 8-10 minutes, referring to the directions on the package. Drain the liquid, cover and set the pasta aside.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a very large skillet over medium heat. Peel the onion, rinse and chop into small cubes, put it in the pan. Add chopped onion, dry herb mixture, salt and pepper. Cook until the onions are translucent. Chop the garlic and add to the onion. Cook for a minute, until the garlic flavors. Remove from heat and set aside.
Heat a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat. As soon as it gets hot, put the minced meat and break it into pieces with a wooden spoon, without stirring. When the meat is crusty, turn it over with a spatula and cook for a few more minutes. Then put the onion and garlic in the fried minced meat, add the puréed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Stir, add basil and sugar, bring sauce to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered sauce for about 10 minutes.
Place the minced meat in the pasta, mix and serve, garnish with parsley. You can make the dish even more original by placing the prepared navy pasta in a baking dish, sprinkle with cheese and put them in the oven for 5-7 minutes until the cheese is golden.
Naval macaroni is a democratic dish, so you can easily make many changes to it. For example, change the ground beef for a mixture of ground beef and pork, for ground chicken or turkey. You can take fresh tomatoes instead of canned ones and simmer them, cut into pieces, until a smooth sauce is formed.
You will read about the recipe for making Ukrainian dumplings with potatoes in the next article.