We’re never sure what to cook for other people’s children but most of them seem to like pasta bake. This one has been popular and also the recipe below which uses a packet of supermarket filled pasta. They like our home-made lasagne too but we don’t always have the energy or time for the extra effort required!
Easy Pasta Bake – serves 3 children (or even 2 adults and 1 child)
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- olive oil
- 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- a small handful of fresh basil, chopped
- 1 packet of filled pasta, about 250g, we tend to go for spinach and ricotta tortellini but you could do a meat filled version if you want to keep to traditional lasagne flavours
- 4 tbsp mascarpone
- 3 tbsp grated Parmesan, plus extra for over the top
- ½ a small ball of mozzarella, sliced
Warm 1 tbsp of olive oil in a saucepan. Add the garlic and cook gently for a couple of minutes, then tip in the tomatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes until thickened. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the basil.
Cook the pasta in boiling water for about a minute less than recommended on the pack, then drain.
Mix the mascarpone with the 3 tbsp grated Parmesan.
Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
Rub a little olive oil over a small baking dish. Spoon a little bit of tomato sauce over the bottom of the dish, add about half the pasta, then spoon over half the mascarpone and Parmesan mixture.
Add another layer of tomato sauce, then the rest of the pasta. Top with the remainder of the tomato sauce and the mascarpone mix. Lay the mozzarella slices over the top and sprinkle with some more grated Parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes in the oven until golden and bubbling.
(Original recipe by Janine Ratcliffe in Olive Magazine, June 2016.)
Jono & Jules do food & wine 
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