Baked Tomato Pasta Sauce with Fusilli
This is your new favorite pasta dish! It’s from the Smitten Kitchen archives and it’s a good one to have in your back pocket to serve to family or for last-minute get-togethers with friends!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: pasta, main dish
- Method: easy
- Cuisine: italian
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 pound cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half
- 1/3 cup bread crumbs (I made them with 2 slices of white bread, crusts trimmed, toasted, and then put into the food processor), Panko would work great too and much easier!
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
- 2 garlic cloves
- salt and pepper
- about 1/4 cup olive oil, plus a little more
- fresh basil
Instructions
- In a shallow baking dish, drizzle the olive oil in the bottom of the dish and place cherry tomatoes, cut side up in a single layer. Add salt and pepper.
- In a separate dish, combine the bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, chopped garlic, and toss with a fork to combine.
- Sprinkle over the entire dish of tomatoes and then add another drizzle of olive oil on top. Put in the oven uncovered for about 20 minutes or until the tomatoes are cooked through and the bread crumbs are starting to turn golden brown.
- While the tomatoes are baking, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water generously and cook the Fusilli pasta according to the package, but make sure it’s slightly undercooked or al dente*. Try to time the pasta close to when the tomatoes are coming out of the oven!
- When the tomatoes are done, mash with a fork and then mix with the cooked pasta and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the basil and toss and serve with additional parmesan cheese.
Notes
*al dente pasta in Italian means “to the tooth” – according to Bon Appetit, al dente means where pasta tastes and feels the best.