Pasta Al Forno Con Pomodori E Mozzarella

It is Secret Recipe Club time!  You remember, it's where participating bloggers are assigned a blog with the challenge of identifying a recipe, preparing it and then posting on a designated day.  I was really excited to be assigned Lavender and Lime!  Tandy says that she "loves to read about food, cook food and of  course, eat food!" That is quite evident when one is perusing her blog!  She is an accomplished, published, award winning cook with a wide variety of recipes from which to select.

I have been in a pasta mood of late so her dish, Pasta Al Forno Con Pomodori E Mozzarella caught my attention right away.  It is a very simple recipe yet packed with flavor.   She made it when she set a cooking challenge for herself of using at least one recipe from her stack  of cookbooks.  That would be daunting for all of us, to be sure....Tandy approached her personal challenge with this recipe from Jaime Oliver in his book, Jamie's Italy.

She used a very basic....tomato pasta sauce (your choice) layered with pasta and Parmesan cheese and then top it off with Mozzarella cheese (I used fresh Mozzarella).  Bake at 350° F for 20 minutes.  I used Tandy's basic tomato sauce recipe.  How simple is that?

Tomato Pasta Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic sliced
1 28 oz whole peeled tomatoes
2 teaspoons dried basil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
½ cup red wine
A splash of red wine vinegar

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
Add the tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper.
Add the wine and vinegar.
Simmer for at least an hour.
Break apart the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon.
Adjust the seasoning and serve. 

The dish was quite flavorful...unfortunately, I had too much pasta for the amount of sauce that I had made.  Next time, and there will be a next time, I will know better!

PRINTABLE RECIPE