Saturday, April 24, 2010

Leftover pasta

It never fails that when you use boxed pasta, there will always be some left that is never enough for another meal. And you wonder, what should I do with it? The pasts usually ends up sitting on a shelf and you occasionally look at it, but never do anything with it. Chances are, you have several different types of pastas sitting on your shelf. Yet, what to make with it?

Well, with a few simple ingredients, you can have yourself baked pasta (casserole, pasta dish, whatever you want to call it).

Ingredients:
Leftover pasta, several types (I used penne, egg noodles, capellini, spaghetti and gemelli)
1 clove garlic, minced (I use clove garlic bc it was cheaper, tastes better and lasts forever)
olive oil (or whatever oil you prefer/have)
Mozzarella cheese
1 can tomatoes, drained
1.4 to 1/2 cup tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce
salt
seasonings, to taste ( I used Italian Seasoning)

Directions:
1. Fill medium saucepan 3/4 full of water. Add 1 tbls. oil and salt to water.
2. Bring water to a boil.
3. Put pastas into water and let cook.
4. When pasta is almost done (there will still be a hard center) add minced garlic and cook for about 1-2 minutes.
5. Turn off stove and strain pasta in a strainer to remove water.
6. Spray casserole dish or loaf pan with no-stick cooking spray.
7. Place pasta in dish.
8. Add tomatoes and tomato sauce. Stir into pasta until evenly coated.
9. Add mozzarella cheese and stir into pasta. Can also stir in seasoning at this point.
10. Cover pasta with cheese.
11. Thinly drizzle oil over cheese to help pasta stay moist in oven.
12. Bake at 300 degrees F for 10 minutes.
13. Remove and enjoy!

*Careful, dish will be hot and delicious!