Pasta Bake
I'm pretty into casseroles, and pasta bakes are no exception. I've made a bunch of different ones, and you can get pretty creative with them, but this one is a classic cheese and tomato sauce one. You don't have to add anchovies if you're a wuss, though.
Tomato Sauce
I like tomato sauce, but I don't usually keep a lot of Italian- or French-type stuff on hand. This one is just made with stuff that I usually have around, but you can substitute the sauces and herbs and stuff for things that you have around. It's just tomato sauce, after all.
This does take a bit of time to cook down, but most of that time is not active cooking time. You can just leave it simmering on the stove while you do other stuff. Just make sure to give it a stir every now and again. This is enough for 2 servings of pasta, but you can multiply this recipe to meal prep. Tomato sauce freezes really well, and having a couple preportioned ziplocs on hand makes this casserole an easy weeknight dinner.
WHAT YOU NEED
- 125g minced yellow onion
- 2 cloves finely minced garlic
- 200g minced tomato
- 1 425g can of crushed tomato in puree
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 500ml water
- 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 tbsp vodka
- 1 bay leaf
- a few sprigs of thyme (or an equivalent amount of dried thyme)
- 1 whole Thai chile (a decently sized one, and completely unpunctured
- 1/2 tbsp dried mint
- 10g minced flat parsley
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter
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HOW-TO
- Heat a pot over medium heat and add the oil and butter.
- Add the onion and let fry until it starts to brown.
- Add the garlic and fry until aromatic, then add the minced tomatoes. Salt lightly and let cook until they start to break down and turn to liquid.
- Dump in the canned crushed tomato, tomato paste, water, fish sauce, vodka, bay leaf, thyme, dried mint, and Thai chile. Bring to a simmer and stir everything together gently, taking care not to break your Thai chile. It's going to smell pretty funky.
- Let everything cook down until the onions and tomatoes have completely broken down, the fish sauce stank has cooked off, and the sauce has thickened. Break any clumps apart with a wooden spoon, taking care not to break the Thai chile.
- Carefully pluck out the Thai chile and slice it thinly. Put as much of it as you like back into the sauce (I usually like to use about half of it, if it's a good-sized one), then stir it in with the minced parsley.
- Let everything simmer for a few more minutes, then adjust the salt level. You're done.
The Bake
This is the main event. If you use anchovies, your house will stink so good. Your housemates might not like it, though.
This recipe serves 2 people and uses a standard loaf pan (the 1.5 quart/1.4 liter type). If you want to double it, you can use a 2 quart/1.9 liter casserole dish and just give it a little more time in the oven to account for the fact that the pasta bake itself won't sit as shallow as it does in the loaf pan. I've only ever done these in Pyrex glass, but I figure other nonreactive materials like ceramic, enamel, or stainless steel should also be fine. Don't use anything reactive like aluminum, though, or you'll end up with a nasty metallic-tasting casserole.
WHAT YOU NEED
- 130g dried penne pasta (or whatever you like/have, I guess, as long as it's a shorter type)
- 1 batch of the tomato sauce from above
- a couple handfuls of shredded mozzarella
- three anchovy fillets from a jar
- some thyme sprigs and/or other herbs to decorate
- butter to grease the pan
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HOW-TO
- Boil the pasta until it's al dente, then drain and rinse well under cool water. I'm not usually into al dente, but I do it if I'm making a casserole.
- Grease up a standard-sized loaf pan with some butter, then spoon in a thin layer of the tomato sauce. Add alternating layers of pasta and tomato sauce until you've used up all of both.
- Top generously with cheese, then set some herbs in a nice arrangement on top. I went with a simple radial arrangement, but you can make it as complicated as you want it to be. Just make sure you don't cover all of the cheese, or it won't melt right.
- Set the anchovies out on top, evenly spaced down the length of the casserole.
- Bake at 400°F/200°C on the center rack until it's done. You'll know it's done once the cheese on top has started to brown, so just keep an eye on it. When you take it out, let it sit on at room temperature for about 5-10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
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NOTES
- You can swap your sauces out for anything you feel like, add proteins, or whatever. We once made this same exact pasta bake, except we omitted the French-y additional toppings and swapped the tomato sauce out for paneer tikka masala. Any sauce thickened with roux, cream, or cooked down vegetables will work great. Leftover curries do especially well. It's good. It's fucking good.