Cheesy Baked Penne
This dish is a terrific way to use leftover spaghetti sauce. If your sauce has meatballs in it, break them up into tiny pieces and incorporate them in the sauce. This is equally good made with penne or rigatoni pasta. It all depends on what you have on hand and personal preference. You can make this in quantities and freeze.
Cheesy Baked Penne or Rigatoni
Serves 6
3 tablespoons coarse salt
1 pound penne or rigatoni
1½ cups grated mozzarella cheese
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 to 2½ cups leftover Spaghetti Sauce, page 150 in my cookbook
Directions
Preheat oven to 375°. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add salt and penne and boil until pasta is al dente, about 10 to 14 minutes. Check after 9 minutes. Do not overcook. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water.
Combine the 3 cheeses and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, toss the pasta with half the spaghetti sauce, then add as much of the remaining sauce as you wish to have the noodles well covered. Toss in ¾ of the cheese.
Grease a 2- to 3-inch deep casserole dish large enough to hold the pasta. Add the pasta. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven until bubbly and the cheese is brown along the edges, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes before serving.
Sally Uhlmann’s passion for cooking led her to publish a memoir-style cookbook, “Just Cook with Sally.” She splits her time between the States and her farmhouse in Cortona, Italy, when she is not traveling the world. Sally cooks, develops recipes, and writes stories—mostly about the intersection of food, travel, and her life.
