This Tomato & Zucchini Oven Baked Pasta is a great mid week comfort. Tender pasta noodles with sauteed zucchini in a rich tomato sauce and topped with fresh mozzarella cheese.Make in advance, pop it in the fridge and bake when ready.
I’ve just come in from outside checking on the tomatoes. And boy, does it look like we’re in for quite a few this year. Exciting!
So, once the tomatoes are in full force, I can get back into cooking sauces with them. there is nothing better than a good marinara sauce made from home grown tomatoes.
Notes About This Dish
- A great dish for rainy days, cold days, weekends, pot lucks. family get togethers, having friends around…well, good for anything really. In my house, you just can’t go wrong with pasta. I know many people are gluten intolerant, so you could use gluten free pasta if you still love pasta but can’t have the gluten
- Like a lot of pasta bake dishes, this can be made ahead and refrigerated and cooked several hours later. If you do it this way bake the dish for about 5 minutes longer than the time recommended.
And if you looking for a creamier baked pasta dish, you need to check out the Bowtie Pasta and Broccoli Pasta Bake, the Tomato & Mozzarella Baked Penne or my Fusilli Pasta Bake with Bacon and Zucchini. Happy cooking friends.
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More Great Baked Pasta Dishes
Penne Pasta & Broccoli Bake
Ground Turkey Pasta Bake
Bell Pepper & Bacon Pasta Bake
Tomato & Zucchini Oven Baked Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 oz penne pasta
- 1 Zucchini halved length ways and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1/2 onion finely diced
- 3 cloves Garlic crushed
- 4 Tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 can can whole tomatoes 16 oz
- 1 Cup Marinara Sauce
- 1/2 Teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 Teaspoon rosemary
- Fresh black pepper
- Sea salt
- 2 Tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
- 1/2 Cup Parmesan finely grated
- 6 0z mozzarella fresh ball, cut into slices
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and have ready a deep sided 8 inch baking dish.
- In a large skillet set over medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the zucchini. Stir well and cook for about 10 minutes until the zucchini is cooked and charred on the outside. Remove from heat.
- In a separate large skillet set over high heat, add the remaining olive oil, garlic and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. The onions should be softened and slightly caramelized.
- Add the canned tomatoes to the skillet and set heat to high. Stir well. Using two wooden spoons, start chopping up the tomatoes until they are all fairly chopped well. Add the oregano, rosemary, black pepper and sea salt Stir well and allow to cook until most of the pan juices have evaporated and you are left with quite a thick sauce. This will take about 15 minutes. Add the marinara sauce, parmesan cheese and parsley to the pan,bring to a simmer and sir well. Leave to simmer for just a couple of minutes and remove from heat.
- Cook the pasta al dente, drain and set aside.
- Add the pasta to the baking dish, spoon over zucchini and finally the sauce. Stir well to combine. Top with fresh mozzarella slices and bake for about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for about 5 minutes before
*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
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