Last year there was a baked pasta sauce all over social media. It contained feta cheese, which my family doesn’t eat very often, if at all. I wanted to try it out but in our own way. I scrounged through my cheese collection one night and decided to create this dish. It turned out perfect! You are probably thinking “but who has all that cheese just sitting in their fridge?” Ha, ha, ha…. I do! I usually keep the Pecorino in the freezer in a bulk container to use as a garnish on pizza. The other cheese I just happen to keep for snacking or creating delicious items with. I know I know; I have a cheese problem. But hey there are much worse things to be addicted to. I ended up making two versions of this baked tomato pasta. This one with spinach to add a little healthiness to our meal, and another with just a few varieties of cheese. Baking the whole mixture in the oven caramelizes the tomatoes and adds a little sweetness to them. It also allows the juices from the tomato to blend with the melted cheese and create a creamy sauce without adding any other liquid.
While I used penne pasta with this you can choose any pasta you want. I cook the pasta separate, while the tomato and spinach mixture are baking. This can be eaten just as a pasta, or a side with grilled chicken, and you can turn this into a dip with your favorite bread, crackers, or chips as well. It’s very versatile once you add the spinach. I added thin cut chicken, which I butterflied and grilled with salt, pepper, and garlic to make this a full meal. Hope you enjoy!
Baked Spinach Tomato Pasta
Equipment
- 1 oven safe baking dish
- 1 boiling pot
Ingredients
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes whole
- 1 cup frozen spinach
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 ounce cream cheese
- 2-3 ounces fresh mozzarella
- 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper
- 1 Tbsp Pecorino Ramano cheese grated
- 3 cups penne pasta cooked
Instructions
- In an oven safe dish drizzle the olive oil all over the bottom. Place the mozzarella, cream cheese, and parmesan in the center of the dish. Wash your tomatoes and pour them and the spinach all around the outer edge of the cheese. Put the whole peeled garlic cloves on top of the spinach spaced out equally. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top of all the ingredients. Place in a pre-heated oven at 375'F for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese begins to brown slightly on top and the tomatoes and spinach bubble and cook through. While sauce is baking cook pasta of choice and set aside. I used penne, but any type can be substituted. Once sauce is fully cooked remove the dish from the oven. Carefully remove the garlic cloves and press through a mincer. Add the minced garlic back to the dish and stir all the contents of the dish together. Mix in the cooked pasta, add any additional salt and pepper if needed, and sprinkle the Pecorino cheese on top. Serve warm and Enjoy!
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