Baked Pasta with Tomato Sauce

We make up a huge batch of this tomato sauce, and use it as a base for all our pizza's and pasta dishes. The recipe is based on one of Jamie Olivers Italian jobs.....

You need:

2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Large Onion (chopped)
2 cloves Garlic (chopped)
1 or 2 dried red Chillies (crumbled)
1.5 kg Fresh Plum Tomatoes (peeled and de-seeded and roughly chopped)
large handful Basil leaves
1 tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
400g Orecchiette Pasta.
4 large handfuls grated Parmesan
3 x 150g balls Mozzarella


Pre-heat oven to 200/400/Gas 6. Put a large pan of water onto boil.

In a large saucepan, add the Olive Oil and heat gently. Add the Onion, Garlic and Chilli and heat slowly for a good 10 minutes. Then add the choppped Tomatoes to the Onion and Garlic. Simmer for 20 minutes and then roughly tear the Basil leaves and add them to the tomato sauce, along with the Red Wine Vinegar.

Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook as per the packet instructions (usually about 12 minutes will do!) When cooked, drain the pasta and toss it with half of the tomato sauce and a handful of Parmesan.

In a nice big baking tray or casserole dish, put a layer of pasta on the bottom. Add some tomato sauce on top, followed by a handful of Parmesan and one sliced up Mozzarella ball. Repeat with another layer of pasta/tomato/cheese and then another layer on top to finish.







Stick it in the oven for 15 minutes until the cheese on top is bubbling and golden brown.

Feeds 4