Classic Baked Pasta

There is just something about melted mozzarella with pasta and sauce....

Baked pasta is one of my favorite comfort foods. It's one of those meals that I don't cook very often because it is a treat for me - you can't over-do treats! It's strange, but at the end of my vacations to tropical islands and after eating processed, foreign, wanna-be American food for a week I very much long for baked pasta, and only baked pasta for some reason.

Well, this past Easter holiday I wasn't on a tropical island, but hosted dinner at the apartment... Baked Fusilli (not Ziti or Rigatoni - Fusilli were more fun and festive!) made the menu! I knew everyone would like it and it was a good, easy enough dish for a big group of people. You can use almost any type of pasta for this - typically bite-sized works best.

Ingredients: Serves 4

• 1 lb Pasta (Ziti, Penne, Fusilli, Rigatoni, etc)
• Lots of Grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• Lots of Fresh Mozzarella, cut into small pieces or shredded
• Sauce & Meatballs recipe here

Meatballs and Sauce:

In my baked pasta I added my mini meatballs ...it is just a smaller version of the meatballs I already blogged about. Just cook the meatballs in the frying pan, don't add into the sauce like the blog says for the other recipe. Set them a aside until you are ready to assemble the meal. 

The sauce is also included in this link. Make these two first.

Next:

Once the meatballs and sauce are done, boil the pasta until it is very al dente as it will continue to cook in the oven. Once strained, put back in pot and add in a few ladles of sauce. Mix around so that each piece of pasta is covered in sauce before assembling.

In a square or rectangular baking pan, add a ladle of sauce on the bottom and spread evenly. Add a layer of pasta....

...Followed by handful or 2 of the mini meatballs, a heaping handful of grated parmigiano, and handful shredded mozzarella....

Add a good amount of sauce on top so everywhere is covered, and the pasta will not be dry after cooking as it soaks up some sauce while baking. Repeat this layer.... you should be able to repeat the layers 1 or 2 times.

Bake in 375 degrees oven for 20-30 minutes, until mozzarella is fully melted and everything is congealed.