Most of the time when we have pasta, it’s simply a sauce ladled over the pasta before serving. It’s easy, quick (especially when I have some frozen pasta sauce from my garden), and our family’s favorite. But once in awhile, I feel like something a little different.
Something oozing with cheese. I think anything with lots of oozing cheese is comfort food- don’t you? So when that mood strikes, I’ve got to make this cheesy baked pasta dish.
One of the things that make pasta dishes so easy in our house is having lots of frozen Roasted Tomato/Vegetable Sauce in the freezer. That’s what motivates me to put up as many containers of this sauce as I can in the fall with our garden produce – knowing I’ll have it to turn to for quick winter meals. That plus the fact that it tastes out of this world.
However,if you don’t have a sauce you can pull from the freezer, it’s easy to make one from canned tomatoes, onions and garlic. Just saute the onions and garlic in olive oil, add the tomatoes, some salt and pepper and a few herbs (basil, oregano, etc.) and let it simmer while the pasta cooks. Oh, and you just use whatever pasta you have for this – ziti, rotini, penne, and probably others I can’t remember right now.
We like to add meat to our sauce, with our favorite being hot Italian sausage, though any will do. Of course, you don’t have to put any meat in it at all, but my family heaves a collective sigh when I don’t, so I put some in just to appease them.
Once the sauce and meat are simmering all together, I go a little crazy and add a bit of cream cheese. I only do this when making a cheesy baked pasta, though I don’t know why it appeals to me here. Maybe because its, uh, cheese?
Have I ever mentioned my dislike (phobia? disgust?) with gloppy white foods? I can’t stand cream cheese on bagels, mayo oozing out of a sandwich, even butter if it’s thick. It actually turns my stomach to even see others eating any gloppy white stuff. I think it might go all the way back to kindergarten when a girl would sit across from me and eat paste. Literally. Eat. Paste. And she’d look at me while she did it, ’cause she knew it grossed me out.
Maybe I need therapy.
But I do like to use cream cheese in cooking. See how it makes a creamy-looking sauce? By now (well, before now, but I got caught up in telling you all about my kindergarten angst), the pasta should be done. Drain it, return it to the pot, pour in the sauce and mix it all together.
Grab a baking pan, grease with a little olive oil, and spread half of the pasta mixture into it. This is key to a cheesy baked pasta – layer like it’s lasagna. Sprinkle half of whatever cheese of you’ve got – mozzarella, jack, cheddar, goat, or really anything that sounds good- and then add the rest of the pasta and cheese, ending with a sprinkle of Parmesan. Just in case you doubted the cheesy part of this recipe.
Bake 20 to 30 minutes until the cheese is browned. And be comforted.
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Cheesy Baked Pasta {aka Comfort Food}
- 1 lb. of ground meat (optional)
- 4 cups of tomato pasta sauce
- 1 lb. pasta of choice (Penne, Rotini, Ziti, etc.)
- 4 oz. cream cheese (optional)
- 4 cups grated cheese (mozzarella, jack, cheddar, etc.)
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
- Cook pasta according to directions in a large pot. While pasta is cooking, brown the meat and make the pasta sauce, if needed. Add the sauce to the meat, mix and add the cream cheese, if using.
- Drain the pasta and return it to the cooking pot. Add the meat-sauce mixture and stir until evenly coated.
- Grease a baking dish (13×9) and spoon half of the pasta mixture onto the bottom. Sprinkle half of the grated cheese and then top with remaining pasta. Sprinkle remaining cheese on the top as well as the Parmesan.
- Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.
Makes 8-10 servings
-Jami
This is linked to Finer Things Friday at Kitchen Stewardship and the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.
I believe a cottage can be anywhere or anything (condo, ranch, farmhouse) as long as you have a "cottage mentality" which puts people above things, celebrates imperfections, embraces simplicity, and finds joy in everyday life. Thanks for joining me!
Ooh, this looks so yummy with the cream cheese in it! I think my family would love this! Stop by and visit me sometime!
http://songberries.blogspot.com
Looks yummy! Happy Finer Things Friday!
Looks so good, has easy ingredients! Thanks for sharing…
I am so laughing at your comment about white gloppy stuff! I’m okay with cream cheese and butter, but, yeah, I HATE mayo oozing out of sandwiches and the corners of people’s mouths! Not sure where my aversion came from.
Incredible step-by-step! I miss summer tomatoes now.
Thank you for linking up with Finer Things Friday!
Katie
Good stuff, we make something similar:
We toss the cooked spaghetti noodles with cubbed cream cheese, shredded motzerella and parm and garlic and parsly, we layer noodles, red sauce, noodles, red sauce and then cheese on top of course! YUM
I think you deserve a medal for the cream cheese addition. Beyond brilliant and very yummy. Thanks for sharing.
Wow guys, thanks!
Carol- I visited and will surely be trying some of your delicious-looking baked goods!
Janice- nice to know there’s another “white-phobe” out there!
Anon- Oh, I’ll have to try that- upping the cheese factor!
Adrienne- sweet, thanks!
My husband said this was a keeper! I used diced tomatoes, onions, garlic for the sauce and slice smoked sausage for the meat. I also used vegetable pasta – great way to get vegetables in the kids.
Mmmm, sounds like a yummy version, Helen