How to Bake Pasta Without Boiling It
When the weather is awful, there is nothing more delicious than a large amount of cheese baked pasta with tomatoes. You might think that it takes a lot of utensils to get dirty – a cooking pot, a sauce pan, and then a baking dish – but that’s not true. All you have to do is slowly sauté the pasta (in one dish) in the milk bath.
Yes, I know what I said, and I know you have questions. Why not water? Because water doesn’t add richness like milk. Will my sauce be completely white and milky? I won’t. Instead, the dry paste will absorb moisture, and the dairy will combine with canned tomatoes and cheese (which, yes, also dairy) to create a super-rich, yet still tomato sauce. Aside from pasta and milk, you will need whole peeled tomatoes, about 12 ounces of cooked meat (you can even use this pepperoni spread , but it can get a little greasy), a bunch of cheese, and any seasonings you like. It’s not dainty, but comforting, once a pile of cheesy carbs.
Easy baked pasta
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces dried tubular pasta such as ziti or penne
- 1 28-ounce can of peeled tomatoes
- 10 ounces cooked sausage, seasoned ground beef, or any other protein you wish to add there
- 2 cups grated mozzarella
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Red pepper flakes to taste
- 1 cup grated Parmesan
- Fresh basil (optional), sliced into ribbons
Place the pasta in a large saucepan (at least 9×9) and open the tomato jar. Insert a couple of clean kitchen scissors straight into the jar and cut, cut, cut until you have a jar of chopped tomatoes. Add tomatoes and tomato juice to the pasta and stir. Add meat, cheese, milk and seasonings and stir, making sure all of the pasta is submerged in the milk. Cover tightly with two sheets of aluminum foil and bake at 400 ℉ for an hour. Open the lid, pour the Parmesan over and return to the oven until the top is browned and the edges start to bubble. Let it brew for at least 15 minutes so that everything solidifies a little, then pour fresh basil over and warm from the inside.