An old favourite for me, I love it when the sauce is just a little sloppy and you can just get the zing of black pepper coming through – the tray is a pain to clean but sooo worth it.
Prep: 10min Cook; 25min including 16min in the oven
Ingredients
200g pasta shapes (shells or twists)
500ml passata
4 rashers streaky smoked bacon chopped
200g mushrooms finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed/chopped
1 dstspn sour cream
1 mozzarella cubed
basil (1cube or a handful fresh)
salt and pepper
Method
- pre-heat the oven to 225c (fan).
- Par boil the pasta in salted water for 8min then drain.
- While the pasta is cooking, fry the onions, bacon and mushrooms in olive oil. I add the bacon for a minute first to that when the onions are soft the bacon has a little colour.
- Add the garlic to the frying pan for 30 sec then add the passata and cook the sauce.
- When you drain the pasta turn the sauce down low 3/10 (induction) and when the sauce reduces from the simmer add the sour cream, basil and some salt and pepper.
- Mix through the pasta, and place it all in a lasagne dish, sprinkle the chopped mozzarella on top and put it in the oven for 16min.
- When the mozzarella is golden brown it’s ready to serve.
I use passata because the extra liquid is needed to fully cook the pasta (but not over-cook it) when it’s in the oven. If you use fresh tomatoes add a little of the pasta water to make up the sauce and reduce the salt you add to balance it out. You can add a chilli if you like, and a drizzle of basil oil on top when you serve doesn’t go amiss.