Baked Pasta Pleases Everyone

This past weekend, Shaun invited a friend of ours over for dinner and volunteered me to cook, as he so often has recently.  I think he's finally realizing that those who were once his friends are now coming over for my cooking and less for his company.  That being the case, I of course snatched the phone away from him when he was making these plans to do a little reconnaissance work on what our guest wanted for dinner.  Being met with a response of "I don't know... anything," followed immediately by a list of items that were off limits (all of which were things you would never find being made in my kitchen anyways), I offered up some things.  I had already made steak the last time she was over for dinner, so I ruled out red meat.  "Chicken of some sort?  Pork?  Perhaps a particular fish?  Pasta?"  "Ooooh... oooh.  Pasta.  Yes. Pasta!"  Done.  We hung up and I had a dinner plan.  Or did I?

There are so many things one can do with pasta.  Small pasta, large pasta, stuffed pasta, baked pasta.  Red sauce, cream sauce, wine sauce, cheese sauce.  After ending my internal monologue of sounding like an Italian chef's personal Dr. Seuss book, I settled on doing more than just heating sauce and perhaps a meat or veggie to toss into a plain old marinara sauce.  Thus, I decided to a slightly more enriched pasta bake filled with ooey-gooey cheese and meat and veggies with a homemade creamy tomato sauce.  I couldn't just put baked pasta on the table though, so I decided to do a little roasted tomato appetizer and some garlic bread.  I was looking for a reason to try Ina Garten's pesto recipe, and it just fit so perfectly here.  So there we had it.  A nice dinner of Tomatoes Roasted with Pesto and Baked Pasta with Sausage, Eggplant, Fennel and Spinach with Tomato Cream Sauce.

Tomatoes Roasted With Pesto

• 2-2 1/2 pounds large red tomatoes
• 3 tbsp. good olive oil
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• Pinch of Salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup pesto, store bought or homemade (see Ina Garten's recipe below)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Homemade Pesto Sauce

• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 3 tbsp. diced garlic (about 9 cloves)
• 5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups good olive oil
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Baked Pasta and Homemade Sauce

• 1 lb of Large Shells
• 4 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 4 cloves of garlic, sliced
• Pinch of Red Pepper flakes
• 28 oz. can of plum tomatoes
• 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup water
• 4 sprigs basil
• 1 cup hot Italian Sausage, cooked and crumbled
• 1 cup eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes and sauteed until soft
• 1 cup fennel, thinly sliced and sauteed
• 1 cup fresh ricotta
• 3 cups fresh mozzarella, cubed
• 1 cup grated Pecorino cheese, grated

First, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; cook the shells until very al dente, about 2-3 minutes less than the label directs; drain.

For the tomatoes, core them and then slice them across (not through the stem) in 1/2 inch-thick slices.  Arrange the slices in a single layer on a sheet pan.  Drizzle the tomatoes with the 3 tbsp of good olive oil and sprinkle with the oregano, 1 1/2 tsp of salt and pepper. (Oregano is one of the few herbs where I prefer to use dried over fresh, as the flavor is actually better).  Set aside until ready for baking when the pasta is resting.


To begin the sauce, heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the 4 sliced cloves of garlic and a pinch of red pepper flakes and cook until the garlic is golden.  Add the 28 oz. can of plum tomatoes to the skillet and crush them.  Once crushed, add the diced tomatoes.  Rinse each can out with 1/2 cup water and add the skillet.  Add 4 large basil sprigs; simmer, uncovered, until the sauce is thickened, about 20 minutes.  Discard the basil; season with salt.  (Alternatively, if you're short on time, you could use 4 cups of prepared tomato sauce).

While the sauce is simmering, cook the hot Italian sausage, eggplant and fennel in the other 2 tbsp of olive oil.  Stir in the 1 cup ricotta cheese into your sauce, then add your cooked sausage, eggplant and fennel.  


Toss the cooked pasta with the sauce and 1 1/2 cups of the mozzarella and 1/2 cup of the Pecorino cheese.  Spread into an oiled 3-4 quart baking dish.  Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and Pecorino over the top.  Bake, uncovered, until browned, about 15 minutes.  Let rest 15-20 minutes before serving.

While the baked pasta is resting, bake the tomatoes for 10 minutes.  Remove them from the oven, spread each slice with pesto, and sprinkle with the Parmesan.  Return the tomatoes to the oven and continue baking for 7 to 10 minutes, until the Parmesan is melted and begins to brown.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with extra salt to taste.


For plating, I served the tomatoes first on a small salad plate, although in hindsight, I probably would have served the tomatoes with the pasta and garlic bread.  Regardless, place a decent sized scoop of the pasta bake in the corner of the plate and lean a piece of the garlic toast against it, and sprinkle some fresh shredded parsley for garnish.  Enjoy!