Tomato Pasta Bake
The tomato sauce is deliciously rich and flavourful and is paired perfectly with a mountain of cheese that just melts!
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 1 carrot peeled and diced
- 1 celery stalk diced
- 2 garlic cloves finely sliced
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
- 350ml water
- 500g pasta of your choice (see Notes)
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 100g extra mature cheddar grated
- 100g red leicester cheese grated
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. In a large casserole pot, heat the oil over a medium heat. Fry the onion, carrot and celery for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add in the garlic and cook for a further 2 to 3 minutes.
- Turn the heat up and add in the balsamic vinegar and bubble until reduced. Add the oregano, tinned tomatoes and 350ml water and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, then remove from the heat.
- Once the tomato sauce has been cooking for 10 minutes, cook the pasta following the pack instructions, in a large saucepan of boiling salted water, then drain.
- When the sauce is cooked, use a stick blender to blitz the sauce until smooth then season well, to taste. Stir in the drained pasta then transfer everything to a large ovenproof dish. Top with the cheese and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until golden and the sauce has reduced.
Notes
- The original recipe uses penne pasta…but I didn’t have enough so used a bag of rigatoni instead. I also think fusilli or farfalle would work well too.
- This tomato pasta bake recipe is easily adapted if you’re cooking for less or more people.