Baked Pasta With Tomato Cream And Five Cheeses Food

TOMATO, BASIL AND CHEESE BAKED PASTA

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt the water. Add small shell pasta and cook the pasta to al dente doneness which means that the pasta will still have a bite to it or be a little chewy. The pasta will soak up more juice and keep on cooking after we drain it, so we need it to be a little under cooked. The shells will probably cook about 9 or 10 minutes.
• Preheat a deep, big skillet or a medium sauce pot over medium heat.
• Place garlic on the cutting board and place the flat of your knife on top of each clove. Carefully give the garlic a whack with the palm of your hand to separate the cloves from the skins. Throw out the skins and chop up the garlic. Remember to keep your fingers curled under and the edge of your sharp, chef's knife tilted slightly away from your body.
• Add extra-virgin olive oil to the pan by pouring a slow stream of it twice-around-the-pan. This will be about 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Do not let the oil pour out too fast. You are looking for a slow, steady stream. Add the garlic to the oil. To chop the onion, cut the ends off and cut the whole onion down the center. Wrap half and save it. Cut the other half into thin slices then twist the slices a quarter turn and chop them again. Hold the tip of knife on the cutting board and lift the back of the knife up and down over the onion to make the pieces really small. Add the chopped up onion to the garlic and oil. Cook, stirring a lot, 5 minutes until the onions are mushy and look cooked.
• Add the tomatoes to the onions and stir. When the tomatoes come to a bubble, reduce the heat under the sauce to low. Stir in basil pieces to wilt them. Season the sauce with salt and peppe, to your taste.
• Preheat your broiler to high and place a rack in the center of the oven.
• Drain pasta shells. Add them to a flameproof casserole dish. Add pesto sauce, 1 cup of ricotta cheese and a handful of grated Parmigiano, too. Stir carefully and coat the hot pasta with the pesto and cheeses. Pour the hot tomato and basil sauce over the pasta, as much as you like. You can always serve a little extra at the table, to pass around. Shred up some mozzarella cheese with a grater and scatter it over the pasta. Add a final sprinkle of Parmigiano to the mozzarella as well. Place the casserole under the broiler in the middle of oven, 10 to 12 inches from the heat. Let the cheese melt and bubble on top, 3 to 5 minutes.

CREAMY PASTA BAKE WITH CHERRY TOMATOES AND BASIL

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add penne and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 11 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of cooking water.
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook onion until soft and translucent while penne is cooking, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds. Stir in tomato sauce and tomato paste and cook until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Add cream and Parmesan cheese and season with salt, pepper, and sugar.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a baking dish.
• Stir some pasta cooking water into the sauce and add cooked penne. Remove from heat and stir in cherry tomatoes, 1/2 the mozzarella cheese, and basil. Pour penne mixture into the prepared baking dish and cover with remaining mozzarella cheese.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted, about 20 minutes.

THREE CHEESE BAKED PASTA

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain.
• Meanwhile, cook ground meat and onion in a skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until meat is browned. Stir in pasta sauce, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer the ingredients in the prepared baking dish as follows: half of the cooked pasta, all the provolone cheese, all the sour cream, half of the sauce mixture, remaining pasta, mozzarella cheese, and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until bubbly.

BAKED PASTA WITH TOMATO, CREAM, AND FIVE CHEESES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 500 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook for 4 minutes. Drain in a colander.
• While pasta is cooking, place cream, tomatoes, cheeses, salt, and basil in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Add cooked pasta to cheese mixture, and toss to combine.
• Divide among six to eight shallow ceramic gratin dishes (1 1/2 to 2 cups in capacity). Dot with butter, and bake until bubbly and brown on top, 7 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle with pecorino Romano and scallions. Serve immediately.

ONE-PAN BAKED CREAM CHEESE PASTA

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400ºF.
• Combine tomatoes, garlic, dry seasonings and 2 Tbsp. dressing in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.
• Place block of cream cheese in center of tomato mixture.
• Bake 30 to 35 min. or until tomatoes are tender, stirring after 20 min.
• Add pasta, boiling water and remaining dressing to ingredients in baking dish. Use back of spatula to gently press pasta into boiling water so most the pasta is covered with water. Cover with foil.
• Bake 20 min. Remove baking dish from oven. Stir ingredients in baking dish; cover. Let stand 5 min.
• Sprinkle with parsley before serving.

BAKED PASTA WITH TOMATO, CREAM AND FIVE CHEESES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 500 degrees.
• Cook pasta for 4 minutes in large pot of salted water.
• While pasta is cooking, place cream, tomatoes,cheeses (mozarella, fontina, gorgonzola and ricotta), salt and basil in a large bowl and stir to combine.
• Add cooked pasta to cheese mixture and toss to combine.
• Divide among 6 to 8 shallow ceramic bowls.
• Dot with butter and bake until bubbly and brown on top, 7 to 10 minutes.
• Sprinkle with Romano and scallions and serve.

BAKED FOUR-CHEESE PASTA WITH TOMATOES AND BASIL

Steps:

• For the topping:.
• Pulse bread in food processor until mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about ten 1-second pulses (you should have about 1 1/2 cups).
• Transfer to small bowl; stir in Parmesan, salt, and pepper.
• Set mixture aside.
• For the pasta:.
• Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 500 degrees.
• Bring 4 quarts water to rolling boil in stockpot.
• Combine cheeses in large bowl; set aside.
• Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt to boiling water; stir to separate pasta.
• While pasta is cooking, melt butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat; whisk flour into butter until no lumps remain, about 30 seconds.
• Gradually whisk in cream, add tomatoes, and increase heat to medium, and bring to boil, stirring occasionally; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 1 minute to ensure that flour cooks.
• Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper; cover cream mixture to keep hot and set aside.
• When pasta is very al dente (when bitten into, pasta should be opaque and slightly underdone at very center), drain about 5 seconds, leaving pasta slightly wet.
• Add pasta to bowl with cheeses; immediately pour cream mixture over, then cover bowl with foil or large plate and let stand 3 minutes.
• Uncover bowl and stir with rubber spatula, scraping bottom of bowl, until cheeses are melted and mixture is thoroughly combined. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil.
• Transfer pasta to 13 by 9-inch baking dish, then sprinkle evenly with reserved bread crumbs, pressing down lightly.
• Bake until topping is golden brown, about 7 minutes.
• Serve immediately.