Baked pasta is a great dish for any buffet party or a lunch or dinner at home. It provides great left overs and can easily be frozen for another meal. I always recommend serving oven baked pasta with a green side dish such as a fresh salad, or Italian green beans.
Here are the ingredients you will need:
1 Box of short tube pasta such as Rigatoni.
32oz. pasta sauce - for real quick, use a "good" Italian jar sauce
15 oz. ricotta cheese - low fat will not take away from the taste, so I recommend using it for this dish.
1 1/2 to 2 Cups grated romano cheese
13x7 baking pan or 2 smaller ones
Directions:
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add a pinch of salt.
2. Add the entire box of pasta and give a stir.
3. Cook for just over 1/2 the normal time. For rigatoni, I time it about 7 minutes. Here is one of the secrets... only cook the pasta 1/2 just under aldente. It will continue to cook in the oven.
4. Drain the pasta and set to the side.
5. Place one scoop of pasta sauce on the bottom of the pan.
6. Add a layer of pasta, do not be shy, it only requires 2 layers.
7. Put a layer of sauce over the pasta making sure to cover it all. Do not be shy.
8. Put a layer of ricotta using about 3/4 of the container.
9. Mix it all together gently so it is evenly dispersed.
10. Add the rest of the pasta on top, then the sauce, ricotta and then add the romano.
11. Mix all together and make sure the sauce covered all the pasta to prevent it from drying out.
12. Cover the pan with foil and bake at 365 degrees F. for 25-35 minutes.
- Note - Once the sauce starts bubbling up from the bottom of the pan, you know it is finished. I always recommend a taste test however.
A few tips I would like to mention however. First, you can add meat to this dish such as meatballs. Make sure the meat is precooked. Second tip, do not tell anyone how easy it is to make! It took me less than 15 minutes to prepare this dish.
As they say in Italian... "Mangiamo!" ("Let's Eat!")
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