Easy cheese and tomato pasta bake for nights where you want something delicious and comforting to eat but can't be bothered to spend ages in the kitchen.
Course Dinner, Vegetarian
Cuisine Dinner
Keyword easy dinner recipe, Pasta bake, Tomato pasta bake
500g (1lb)short pasta of your choice (I used penne)
1cupgrated mozzarella cheese
1cupgrated cheddar cheese
fresh basilto serve
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF.
Fry the onion and garlic in a splash of olive oil until soft and translucent.
Add the tomatoes, herbs, spices, Balsamic, sugar and stock/wine and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes while the pasta cooks. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta's cooking water.
When the pasta is cooked and the sauce is reduced, combine and mix well. Add some of the cooking water saved from the pasta to loosen the pasta and sauce a bit.
Transfer half the pasta mix to a baking dish, add half of the cheese. Repeat with the remaining pasta and cheese.
Place the pasta in the pre-heated oven and allow to bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese on top is golden brown.
Remove and allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving with fresh basil.