Baked Rotini

Baked Ronini 

My pantry reorganization over the weekend resulted in an accounting of an abundance of tri-colored rotini.  My husband always announces my “overstocking” by calling into the kitchen and saying, “We are GOOD on ________ for a while.”  I cringe knowing that he has discovered multiples of something that I have a fear of running out of, or was so INCREDIBLY on sale, or I had just read a whole article about how said food would make my life wonderful.  Needless to say, I should NEVER watch infomercials.  I am just one new mop away from having all my dreams come true!

This is a meal in one dish or in my case this time, in a loaf pan!  I added chicken to mine, but you can add browned hamburger meat or browned Italian sausage.  Pepperoni diced would not be a bad idea either.  

Start by getting a big pot of salted water to a rolling boil, pour in some olive (or other type) oil.  This keeps pasta from sticking together.  To that boiling water add a whole bag of rotini.  Cook it about 9 minutes and then take it off heat.  Pour through a colander RESERVING about ¾ cup pasta WATER, and set both aside until later.  

In a large bowl combine the following:  one egg, one container (2 cups) of either cottage cheese or ricotta cheese.  I am not a big fan of cottage cheese so I use ricotta, but cottage cheese is a little less expensive and will make the dish SO creamy.  Then add at least 2 cups of shredded, mozzarella cheese or a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar cheese.  Save some mozzarella for later as well.  

Now add that PASTA WATER to the mixture about ¼ cup at a time.  Might not need it all so use it sparingly at first.  When all of that is nice and smooth, add a minimum of 4 cups or jarred “bought” spaghetti sauce – can be with added garlic, meat, basil – whatever your fav kind is.  Keep stirring until all that is mixed well.  Might want a little more of that magic pasta water next.  

Then dump all the rotini into the same bowl and stir until thoroughly mixed.  Ladle that mixture into any size (like 13x9) casserole dish, or put it in disposable aluminum pans, size of your choice.  Deeper the pan, longer it cooks.  Sprinkle generously with mozzarella cheese.  Start with a 350 degree oven, cover dish with aluminum foil, and cook in oven for 30 minutes.  Mine took longer because loaf pans are deep.  This made enough to fill 4 loaf pans.  

Remove the foil and allow the cheese on top to melt and very lightly brown.  It is better if it sits a while before eating – you have to cook CRUSTY bread anyway, get the dressing out to go on the salad and wash your hands for the 100^th time in the last hour so WALK AWAY from the rotini!  

The really neat thing about using aluminum foil pans is that, 1) no clean up, and 2) the people you share this with do not have to return a dish!! 

You can make this ahead and keep in refrig for about 3 days before cooking.  You can cook and then freeze it, thaw and then reheat it.  Versatile, crowd-pleasing, and so much easier than lasagna with an almost identical taste/result.  You do NOT want this to dry out – use pasta water like those Rotini are desert-thirsty and do not be stingy with the sauce.  Those two things will keep this running with goodness.