How to Make the Ultimate Roasted Tomato Pasta Bake

I’m always on the look out for inspiration to create the ultimate pasta party dish and not that long ago I found an excellent recipe. I’m a fan of recipes that only use a handful of ingredients but combined together, just create a culinary bliss. Those types of that dishes that give you a feeling of such heightened food ecstasy, that when you walk away from your meal, you leave with a little creepy smile of food pleasure. I found one of those dishes for you. The ultimate roasted tomato pasta bake which literally consists of 90% tomatoes and pasta with a handful of other additions to complete this marvellous dish.

[ingredients title=”Ingredients”]

• 20 medium size vine tomatoes
• 50g fine breadcrumbs
• 80g grated parmesan
• Handful of parsley, roughly chopped
• Olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 x tin peeled tomatoes (san marzano preferably)
• Oregano, chopped (use dried as alternative)
• Fresh Basil, chopped (use dry as alternative)
• 250g Rigatoni or Paccheri pasta. Large tubes preferably.
• Salt and pepper

[/ingredients]

[directions title=”Directions”]

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220c
2. Halve all of the tomatoes. Place in a large tray, facing up and season with salt.
3. Place half of the tomatoes facing up in a well oiled baking tray.
4. Create a mix with the breadcrumbs, parmesan and parsley. Sprinkle half of the the mix on top of the tomatoes.
5. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove
6. While that is roasting, lets make a start on the sauce. In a large deep frying pan, heat up a drizzle of olive oil. Add both whole cloves of garlic and allow them to brown all over. This flavours the oil. Remove the cloves.
7. Add the tin of peeled tomatoes, season with salt and pepper. Add chopped oregano and basil. Cook on a low simmer for 30 minutes
8. Then cook pasta in salted boiling water ‘al dente” as instructed on packet.
9. Drain pasta and add to the tomato sauce.
10. Mix in a large tablespoon of the breadcrumb mix into the pasta and sauce.
11. Layer the pasta on top of the roasted tomatoes.
12. Place the remaining halved tomatoes on top of the pasta. Sprinkle the remaining breadcrumb parmesan mix. Drizzle olive oil on top
13. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
14. Serve immediately while its lovely and hot out of the oven.

[/directions]