Lashings of cheese, lovely homemade pasta sauce and juicy meatballs, a tasty comforting combination!
I hadn't made this for ages but was speaking to a friend who mentioned his wife's favourite pasta dish was a pasta bake. Usually I'm too impatient to wait for dishes like macaroni cheese, pasta bake and cottage pie to come together in the oven and just serve up the individual parts without bothering to bake! However, having been reminded of how good a pasta bake is, I have been making this regularly of late.
This is a pretty straight forward dish to make. I like to use my homemade pasta sauce, you can find the recipe here, which I usually have a dish of in the freezer. I tend to use store bought meatballs, simply for ease. I like Swedish meatballs which go great with this, otherwise whatever you kind you prefer or happen to have in the fridge will be fine.
The choice of pasta is up to you really, as you can see from the photos I like penne! I also like conchiglie, they are both good for holding the sauce and cheese, but whatever pasta shape you have in the cupboard will be just fine.
Recipe
Serves 2 - 3
220g pasta shapes (dry weight)
320g meatballs
100g mushrooms (optional)
400ml pasta sauce
80g cheese grated
Directions
Heat your oven to 180° Fan (200° without fan).
Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the pasta as per instructions but, remove from the water about 1-2mins early.
Fry your meatballs in a large pan until cooked, or as per packet instructions, adding the mushrooms halfway through cooking.
When the pasta is cooked drain in a colander and leave in the colander for now.
Add your pasta sauce to the pan your pasta was cooked in. Add the cooked pasta back to the pan and put on a low heat.
When the meatballs are cooked add them and the mushrooms to the pasta. Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the frying pan so that you leave any excess oil in the frying pan.
Stir the pasta bake mixture well and resist the urge to plate up and eat straightaway! I promise it will be worth the wait to bake it.
Transfer to an oven proof casserole, top with the cheese and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melted.
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