Cheesy, Tomato Pasta Bake

This is an easy, pantry-based weeknight recipe I recently made. It tastes like lasagna with substantially less effort.

You can skip baking this to save on time and dishes, but the crispy cheese moments are worth it.

Ingredients

Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce

• 1 x 28-ounce can of tomatoes (get Bianco di Napoli at Vincenzo’s if in KW)

• 1 onion, peeled, cut in half

• 5 tablespoons butter

• 1 tsp salt

Turkey

• 2-3 tbsp olive oil

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

• 1lb ground turkey

• Salt and pepper

Pasta and assembly

• 1lb pasta (I used orichiette)

• 250g ricotta

• 100g cheddar cheese, cut into cubes

• 50g parmesan cheese, finely grated

Method

Make the tomato sauce

Put the canned tomatoes, peeled onion halves, butter, and salt into a 3-quart pot on medium-low for 45 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft, and the butter has embedded into the tomatoes, with some oil visible on the surface.

This is a great, low effort sauce to make anytime you want a red sauce.

Brown the turkey

In a 12” oven safe frying pan with high sides (like a cast iron or braiser), heat the olive oil on medium-high. Add the onion and a pinch of salt, cook until soft, 5-10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant (don’t burn it). Add the turkey, season with salt and pepper, cook until browned outside and cooked through.

Add the tomato sauce to the turkey.

You can use ground beef, pork, chicken, vegan protein, whatever you want here. We just had turkey in the freezer to use.

Assemble & bake

Note: If you don’t have a large enough frying pan to go in the oven, assemble everything in a 13x9” baking dish.

Pre-heat oven to 425°F.

Boil your pasta per the instructions on the packaging. Add 1/2 cup pasta water to the tomato sauce (the starches in the pasta water help it have a nice texture). Drain the pasta and add to your pan with the sauce and turkey.

Add half the ricotta and cheddar in little drops around the pan and lightly stir into the pasta. Top with 1 tsp sized dollops of ricotta and cheddar, then grate parmesan all over the top.

Place pan (or baking dish) in the oven for ~20 minutes until the top is very golden brown and bubbling. Keep an eye on it as baking times might vary depending how hot everything is when you assemble it. You want those crispy cheese moments at the edges that taste like lasagna.