Description
The assembly of this pasta bake takes about 5 minutes. Blend the sauce, stir in the uncooked noodles, and bake covered (and unattended) for 40 minutes. Finish it off with melty mozzarella and parsley. This recipe scales easily. I’ve written it for the lowest common denominator. As you scale the recipe up, scale the baking dish too. A good rule of thumb—the uncooked pasta should fill about 2/3 of the dish, no more.
Ingredients
- 15 oz. Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Tomatoes
- 1/2 c. water
- 1/3 c. grated parmesan
- 1/3 c. ricotta
- 1/3 c. heavy cream
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- dash of dried thyme
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 lb. campanelle pasta
- 1/4 ball of mozzarella
- curly parsley (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°. In a high powered blender, combine the tomatoes, water, parmesan, ricotta, cream, salt, oregano, basil, thyme, and garlic. Blend until smooth, about 20 seconds. The color of the sauce will look completely unappetizing. Just trust me.
- Add uncooked pasta noodles into an 8″ x 6″ baking dish. Noodles should fill about 2/3 of the baking dish. If the uncooked noodles fill to the top of the baking dish, use a larger dish. Pour sauce over the noodles and stir to evenly coat. Sauce will cover all the noodles with the tops of the noodles barely peeking out. Cover the baking dish with foil. Place baking dish on a baking sheet to catch any overflow. Bake for 40 minutes.
- Remove from the oven. Stir. Pull hunks of mozzarella from the ball and place on top of the pasta. Bake uncovered for 12-15 minutes longer. Garish with parsley (optional) and serve.
Notes
• Be sure to use Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes. I tried other varieties, but none packed enough flavor straight out of the can. The only cooking of this sauce happens in the oven. The fire roasted tomatoes give this sauce the head start that it needs.
• As mentioned, this recipe is written for a small batch but sizes up well. To serve 4-6, make a recipe + a half recipe and bake it in an 8″ x 10″ dish. You get the idea. As you scale up, scale the baking dish. It’s important that the baking dish is at least 2″ high as the noodles will expand greatly as they cook. The uncooked noodles should fill about 2/3 of the dish.
