Tomato Pasta Bake

With Summer heating up and all the farmer’s markets in full swing this recipe that is adapted from Parade Magazine is just the thing for a meatless summer dinner. This dish is sweet from the tomato’s, and  rich and creamy from the cheese sauce. Serve with a side salad and your dinner is done! This is a make again recipe for us as we all went back for seconds!

 
INGREDIENTS
5  Tablespoons of unsalted butter, divided
1/4  cup all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/4  teaspoon ground nutmeg
3  cups milk (I used 1%)
Salt
1 pound spiral pasta
5  ounces shredded Parmesan cheese plus 1/2 cup for topping
8  ounces Italian cheese blend
6  ounces grape tomatoes (about 1 cup)
1 jar (8.5 ounces) sun dried tomatoes julienne cut in olive oil, drained
1/4 cup Italian panko crumbs

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Fill a large pot with water cover and bring to a boil. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat melt 4 tablespoons of butter, add flour, Italian seasoning and nutmeg.Whisk for 2 minutes to get the “floury” taste out. Add milk whisking to combine. Add salt and your pasta to your boiling water. Cook about 7 minutes or until pasta is cooked Al Dante.
Add the 5 ounces of Parmesan cheese to sauce and stir, add Italian cheese stirring until cheese is melted and smooth. Reduce heat to simmer. Meanwhile slice your grape tomatoes in half and drain the sun dried tomatoes.  In a microwave safe bowl, add the last bit of butter and microwave until melted. Add the breadcrumbs and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese stir with a fork until combined. set aside. When the pasta is done drain and return to pot.  Add sun dried tomatoes and grape tomatoes. Stir in all but about one cup of cheese sauce and stir until combined. Pour pasta into baking dish and smooth out with a spoon  Pour remaining cheese sauce over the top. Sprinkle with the panko topping and bake for 20 minutes.  Turn the oven to broil for about two minutes to brown the topping. Remove from oven.

NOTE:  This recipe can be made early in the day and stored in the fridge until you are ready to bake.  Follow the directions until it goes in the oven, then store in fridge. When you bake  it, just bake covered with foil for 35 minutes or until warmed through then uncover and broil for just a couple minutes to brown the topping.

Enjoy,