Pasta Al Forno (Baked Macaroni)

Submitted by CookingONTheSide

"A nice Italian dish."

 

• Ready In: 45mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 6-8

ingredients

• 1 lb macaroni (pre-cooked and mixed with a little tomato sauce, about 1 cup, ziti or rigatoni, etc., could be used)
• 1 lb ricotta cheese
• 1 cup romano cheese, grated
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 2 tablespoons minced parsley
• 1 egg, beaten
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• 1⁄4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 quart pasta sauce

directions

1. Mix one cup of the sauce with the cooked macaroni.
2. Mix the ricotta with 3/4 cup of grated cheese, parsley and egg.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste and the red pepper flakes.
4. Layer sauce on the bottom of a deep casserole.
5. Add 1/3 of the pasta followed by 1/2 of the ricotta mixture.
6. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the mozzarella.
7. Put down a layer of sauce and repeat.
8. Add the final layer of macaroni and top with sauce and the remaining 1/4 cup of grated cheese.
9. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the casserole is bubbling and the cheese on top starts to brown.

Reviews

[waynejohn1234]

This is a very rich pasta casserole - be warned and I feel needs a spicy home made pasta sauce. Certainly a commercial one will not do it justice. Also, it is very cheesy (fine with us) but maybe go on the lighter side first try. <br/>We like this sort or casserole but in small servings.

 

[Redsie]

This is quick and delicious! Used half ricotta and half cottage cheese and used low-fat mozzarella cheese. Added a bit more pepper flakes to spice it up. Thanks Lainey!

 

[iewe7726]

This is great! I added a bit more cheese (the more cheese the better!), and used italian seasoning rather than parsley (because I didn't have plain parsley!). My son loved it -- kept saying "more please mommy!" That is the true sign of a keeper recipe :)

 

[Genevieve H.]

I made this as written, and it was plain tasting. The romano tasted somewhat off in this dish, and there seemed to be too much pasta to cheese/sauce ratio. My daughter who loves pasta and cheese wouldn't eat it, and most of it went into the trash. I was shocked it didn't work out for my family because the picture looks great. I think just using tomatoe sauce didn't help the flavor. I wish I could rate it higher.

 

[Marz7215]

This was an awesome casserole dish! Got raved reviews from the family and will make this again and again! Folowed the recipe exactly and wouldn't change a thing, perhaps next time I might try and sneak in some veggies like finely chopped broccoli! Thanks for sharing!