Italian Baked Pasta

An easy pasta recipe with ricotta cheese and roasted vegetables

Apr 1, 2007

Penne pasta is mixed with marinara sauce, roasted vegetables and three Italian cheeses in this healthy and authentic Italian pasta recipe.

This is one of those pasta recipes with endless variations. Use the vegetables you have in your crisper or whatever vegetables are in season. Just make sure they're all cut to a similar size, so they roast evenly.

Though the recipe recommends penne pasta, you can also use rigatoni, farfalle (bow-ties), fusilli or even shells. Authentic Italian pasta is best, but if you want to increase the fiber content of this recipe, use whole wheat pasta.

Don't be intimidated by the long list of ingredients. Most of them are just different vegetables and cheeses. The hardest part of this baked pasta recipe is chopping the vegetables.

Serve this pasta dish with homemade Italian bread, a cold pea salad and chocolate chip shortbread cookies or low-fat cannolis for dessert.

Italian Baked Pasta with Roasted Vegetables Recipe

2 medium zucchini, diced into 1-inch chunks
8 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and cut in half
2 red peppers, diced into 1-inch chunks
1 yellow pepper, diced into 1-inch chunks
4 oz. asparagus, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 medium onion, cut into 1-inch chunks
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt or Maldon sea salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 Tbsp. dried Italian seasoning blend (basil, oregano, parsley)
16 oz. penne or your favorite short pasta
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
26 oz. marinara sauce (homemade or your favorite jar sauce)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Parano or fontina cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Toss vegetables (first 6 ingredients) with olive oil, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Spread the vegetables out on a jelly roll pan in an even layer. Roast 15 minutes on the center rack of the oven.

While the vegetables are roasting, cook the pasta according to package directions, shortening the cooking time by 5 minutes (so if the package says to cook the pasta for 11 minutes, cook it 6 minutes). Drain pasta and return to pot. Mix with ricotta cheese, marinara sauce, mozzarella and Parano cheeses. Gently fold in roasted vegetables. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Transfer pasta mixture to baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered 20-30 minutes until lightly browned and bubbly.

Allow the baked pasta to cool at least 20 minutes before serving.

Serves 8.

Per serving: 448 calories, 17 g fat (6 g saturated), 67 mg cholesterol,55 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, 19 g protein, 47% Vitamin A, 192% Vitamin C, 26% calcium, 17% iron