Pasta Bakes - All Time Favourite Comfort Food!

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Having a career can sometimes leave one short on time for certain tasks such as cooking.

That is why we all have those 4 or 5 dishes we can rely on when time is against us. One of my 5 dishes is a good old pasta bake, once everything is mixed together and placed in the oven all that I need to do is relax and wait for it to cook with a nice glass of wine. So today I decided to share one of these recipes with you and I hope you like it as much as I do.

Vegetarian Pasta Bake

Ingredients

Homemade Tomato sauce or a Jar of your Favorite Pasta Sauce* Jar of Pesto Handful of Pine Nuts Salt & Pepper 500 grams of your Favourite Pasta Grated Cheddar Cheese to garnish

*Stay tuned in the coming weeks for my homemade Tomato Sauce recipe

Method

Pre heat the oven to 200° celsius or 180° celsius for fan assisted ovens.

You would need to cook 500 grams of your Favourite Pasta, I personally love rigatoni or even ricotta & spinach tortellini (fresh if possible) While that is cooking, you would either have your homemade Tomato Sauce simmering or go ahead and heat the Jar of Sauce instead.

Once the pasta is done and the sauce is heated you are going to need a baking dish, I personally use a 10 x 10 oven proof dish. Any shape will do however. I first cover the bottom of the dish with some sauce and start the layering process. I add a good amount of pasta, topped with sauce, add salt and pepper and sprinkle in some pine nuts with 3 spoonfuls of pesto. Repeat this once or twice more and cover the top with the remainder of the sauce. Right before I add this into the oven garnish the whole dish with Cheddar Cheese.

And that is the "hard work" all done. All that's left is popping your dish of pasta in the oven for 25 to 30 mins. When all the cheese is melted and the top is crispy and brown go ahead and take it out of the oven to sit for a few minutes before serving.

There you have it, a yummy meal that is super easy to prepare. It should be a winner for any household. Go ahead, give it a go and let me know what you think!