Baked pasta dishes are great for groups, because they are low-cost, filling and very easy! Plus, I usually have all the ingredients on-hand from weekly sale deals. This one came from taking what I had on hand and tailoring them to work well in a baked version of my favorite pasta, Ziti.
A key with baking pasta, is to way under cook it, I don’t even get mine to “al dente”. It is usually a bit tough to the bite. Then once it cooks in the oven, it is perfect, and not mushy. I don’t care for mushy pasta.
Needing to get a few veggies in? I add things like spinach, caramelized onions, sauteed squash, or whatever I can add that will give it more nutritional value. Usually whatever is in my crisper. You could even shred carrots or zucchini and add it to the sauce.
What are your favorite potluck or large group dishes? I could use some more!
- 1 lb cooked shaped pasta (ziti, bowtie, penne, whatever you like)
- 1-2 jars favorite spaghetti sauce
- 1 tub ricotta
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil from garden (or 2 tsp dried basil)
- 1 tablespoon garlic salt
- 2 fresh roma tomatoes, diced
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- Parmesan cheese for serving
- Cook pasta a few minutes under directions, so they won’t be mush after you cook them. Stir basil and garlic salt into ricotta and set aside.
- Lightly layer the bottom of a casserole dish with sauce, then place approximately half of the pasta on top. Layer with all the ricotta mixture, Roma tomatoes, ½ of the sauce, more pasta and them the remaining sauce. Top with mozzarella.
- Bake covered for 20 minutes, then uncovered for another 10 minutes. Serve with Parmesan cheese.
Recipe developed by Kelly Hancock ©2010 Faithful Provisions. For personal use only. May not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed for capital gain without prior permission from Kelly Hancock.
