Baked Pasta (No) Vodka

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Jasmine

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Most of my recipes are designed to be healthy but tasty, but if you’re eating healthy 80% of the time, it’s fine to enjoy foods that you just enjoy in the form you like to have them. This is a tasty crowd-pleasing pasta that’s quick and easy. Essentially a ‘pasta alla vodka’ without the vodka (so a creamy, spicy, tangy, tomato-y pasta) finished off in the oven for a crispy, stringy mozzarella topping – perfect for festive season!

INGREDIENTS

Sauce:

Butter and olive oil

Shallot

Garlic

Chilli flakes

tomato paste

Italian hard cheese (such as Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino)

Chopped tomatoes (canned)

Double cream

Pasta:

I used Lumaca Rigata, but any macaroni-like or tube pasta will do

Toppings:

Semi-hard cheese (ideally Comte or Gruyère for the nutty flavour, but cheddar will do)

Mozzarella

Chives

TIPS & NOTES

I like to cook this in a carbon steel for easy stovetop to oven use – as it’s not a long-cooking dish; it should be fine to use cast iron despite the tomato in the sauce. You then just want to let it rest after cooking for 10 mins to allow it to cool down and so the sauce can thicken up.

Baked Pasta No Vodka

  • Servings: 2-3 as a main, 5 as a side
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

A crowd-pleasing baked pasta dish for festive season

Blender required, no advance prep needed


Ingredients

  • 2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
  • 1 shallot (chopped)
  • 200g of tube-shaped pasta
  • 1/2 a 400g can of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tsp of chilli flakes
  • 1 tbsp of tomato paste
  • 100ml of double cream
  • 30g of Italian hard cheese (finely grated)
  • 125g of mozzarella (torn into chunks)
  • A small handful (c. 2g) of chives (finely sliced)
  • 40g of semi-hard cheese (grated)
  • A knob of butter
  • A drizzle of olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste


Directions

  1. Boil the kettle and preheat the oven to 200C
  2. Add the butter and olive oil to an oven-safe skillet on the stovetop over a medium heat, add the garlic and shallot with the chilli flakes and some salt and pepper and saute until fragrant (a couple of mins) before adding the tomato paste – reduce the heat a little after a minute and add the canned tomatoes to cook down (for around 5 mins)
  3. Bring the water to a rolling boil over a medium heat and salt generously before adding the pasta and cooking to just shy of al dente (e.g. 7-8 mins if ‘cooked’ would have been 10 mins)
  4. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the double cream and Italian hard cheese to melt in the residual heat
  5. Transfer the sauce to a blender and blitz until smooth – add back to the pan with the pasta once it’s cooked and stir together
  6. Top with the semi-hard cheese and mozzarella and put in the oven for 7-10 mins before switching to the grill with a medium for a further 5-7 mins until the mozzarella picks up some colour
  7. Top with the chives and rest for 10 mins before serving

Let me know if you try this skillet pasta dish!

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