The best pasta bake I’ve ever tasted

I was recently sent some canned tomatoes (SPC Ardmona) to try out. I use canned tomatoes all the time so thought I’d give them a go. I was also sent a recipe book and I cooked the Mushroom Bolognese Bake.

These canned tomatoes are supposed to be rich and thick and I wanted to see if they really were. Some canned tomatoes I buy are more watery than tomatoey but these seemed to live up to their promise.

Makes enough for 4-6 serves.

Ingredients

• 250g dried Penne pasta
• 300ml thickened cream (I used low fat cream)
• grated rind of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• salt and ground pepper to taste

Mushroom meat sauce

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 400g pork or veal mince (I used beef mince)
• 200g mushrooms – sliced
• 410 can Ardmona wine infused chopped tomatoes
• 1 cup water
• 5 stalks silver beet chopped
• 1/4 cup pine nuts (I didn’t use this as my son’s allergic to nuts)
• 1 cup grated Mozarella cheese

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius
2. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water according to packet directions. Drain and return to saucepan.
3. Stir through cream, lemon rind and juice. Season to taste with pepper. Set aside.
4. Heat oil in frying pan. Brown mince for 3 minutes over high heat, stirring often to break up lumps.
5. Stir in mushrooms, canned tomatoes and water. Return to the boil, cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Stir in silver beet.
6. Spoon a layer of mushroom meat sauce into 8 cup casserole dish, top with pasta mixture and remaining sauce. Lightly toss together.
   
7. Sprinkle with pine nuts (if using) and cheese.
8. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake further 5-10 minutes until cheese lightly browns.

When eating this my son actually complimented me on the taste which he very rarely does this. For me, the lemon made all the difference as I’ve never used lemon with pasta before and it was gorgeous.

I’ll definitely be cooking this one again. It was easy, delicious and big enough to last us for a few meals.