Pasta Bake and what you need to know

Pasta is a weekly affair here and we love these one pot-ish meals where we don’t have to clean so many dishes after we are done.

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For this or any dish that goes from stove top to oven I use this pan from deBuyer. The Mineral B Country Fry Pan with 2 Handles is made of carbon steel – 99% iron and 1% carbon, the most natural cooking material praised by Chefs around the world. And it is totally oven safe!

This pasta bake is a family favorite and my 17 months old daughter loves it dearly. I am giving non-vegetarian and vegetarian option below.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 box penne pasta or pasta of your choice
• Olive oil, divided
• 1 zucchini, sliced round
• 1 large yellow squash, sliced round
• 12 ounce mushroom*
• 1 bell pepper, chopped into 1 inch size pieces
• 1 sweet onion, sliced
• garlic to taste, minced *
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 jar (28 ounce) of marinara sauce*
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 cup mozarella cheese, shredded
• Salt and pepper to taste
• chopped fresh basil

Notes

1. In this recipe, you can use sausages or mushroom given your dietary preference.
2. I never give how many garlic to use because we love a lot of garlic where some prefers more and some less. If you like less, use 3 cloves.
3. You can use homemade marinara sauce.
4. Here I have used a carbon steel skillet that goes easily from stove top to the oven.

Steps

1. Set the oven at 350 degrees.
2. Cook pasta according to package direction.
3. In mineral B Country Fry Pan, over medium to high heat, heat oil. Cooking in batches and separately, cook zucchini, squash seasoning generously with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. It will take 3-4 minutes to get golden on each side. Take them aside.
4. In the same pan, add more oil and cook mushroom. We prefer mushrooms to be crispy, so we cooked it a bit more than zucchini and squash. Take it aside.
5. In the same pan, add oil and cook bell pepper, onion until golden. It can take about 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for a minute or two until the raw smell is gone.
6. Add marinara sauce and cook it until thickened a bit. Stir in pasta, zucchini, squash, mushroom until well combined.
7. Tuck a spoonful of ricotta cheese under pasta. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese.
8. Bake the pasta uncovered for 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melted, bubbly and golden brown.
9. Sprinkle with chopped basil and serve.