Some weeks, it’s nice to make a dish that will feed you all week long. I usually like to cook these dishes after a week that was heavy on the cooking and/or baking. Now, I love to cook, and I love to bake…but sometimes I just want a little extra time for myself at night.
With this dish, I was trying to recreate a dish that my aunt makes. It’s probably been about ten years since I last had her pasta, so I’m going on some faint memories here. Still, I know what flavors I’m looking for. And though my pasta bake is sweeter than hers (because of the red pepper), I’m on the right track.
I made my cooking even easier by thawing some bolognese, and simply adding it to the dish. This is a great dish to prepare ahead on the weekend, and then bake it during a weeknight. Serve it with a nice salad, perhaps a glass of wine, and you have a nicely rounded out meal.
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Pasta Bake
2 1/2 c bolognese*
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 small yellow onion (or 1/2 of a large), diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 tsp herbs de provence
8 oz dried penne
6 oz shredded mozzarella
2 oz shredded parmesan
salt
pepper
olive oil
1. Heat large pot of water over high heat. If baking dish immediately, preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Spray a 9×13 inch pan with cooking spray, set aside.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, drizzle with a little olive oil. Add diced onions and peppers, cook until onions are translucent. Season with a little salt and pepper, and 1 the herbs de provence. Add bolognese, continue to cook. Taste to test the seasonings; add more salt and pepper if necessary.
4. When the water is boiling, season very well with salt (if your pasta isn’t seasoned, your dish will end up tasting bland, no matter how great the sauce tastes). Add a drizzle of olive oil and the pasta, cook for 10 minutes, drain.
5. Add the penne to the bolognese mixture, stir to combine. Transfer pasta mixture to baking pan and top with cheeses. Bake until pasta is bubbly around the edges, and the cheese begins to brown (about 20 minutes if the pasta was room temperature, 40 minutes if it was refrigerated). Allow the pasta to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
*Whenever I make Anne’s bolognese recipe, I pack up a decent amount of the sauce and freeze it. It’s great for a quick dinner, or as a base for other dishes, such as this one.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
If you subbed out the herbs de provence for chili powder you’d have the ever popular chili mac. Most people would use a smaller noodle for that but essentially its the same thing.
That’s an interesting assessment. I confess that I had never heard of chili mac, but from what I’ve found on google, it seems it’s simply a mix of chili and macaroni. The flavor of the bolognese is nothing like chili, so the end results of the baked pasta (even if you added a little chili powder) would be way too different. There’s just too much red wine in the bolognese!