Four Cheese Drunken Sun-Dried Tomato and Spinach Pasta Bake

This is one of my new favorite dishes. Not only because it's delicious but you just mix everything together, lay it in a casserole dish, and bake it. That's it! It's got so much flavor and depth to it that you would think you spent more time in the kitchen. It's perfect for the weeknights where you get home late and just don't want to cook anything. It's great for those times when you are having guests over and don't want to spend all your time in the kitchen cooking. It's great when you're just being lazy. I just love this recipe.

I did make a couple of changes from the original recipe. I was unable to find burrata cheese. So, I bought fresh mozzarella and sliced that up instead. Don't get the pre-grated or dry mozzarella cheese. Trust me on this. You will want that wet round ball of cheesy goodness for this. It just melts and tastes so much better than the dry stuff. I was also unable to find fontina and asiago cheese. Let's just say my grocery store doesn't know how to order stock... it's always out of things. Anyways, since I couldn't find those, I did end up buying a bag of mixed pre-grated cheese that had the blend of cheeses I needed. Then I just added in a touch more of fresh parmesan. In the end, the dish was still amazing and is definitely something that I will be making on a regular basis.

 

recipe adapted from Half Baked Harvest

 

• 1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, oil drained but reserved
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
• 1 Tbsp dried basil
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt and pepper, or to taste
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 pound rigatoni pasta
• 8 ounces fontina cheese, cubed
• 1 1/2 cups asiago cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese*, grated
• 8 ounces burrata cheese
• fresh basil or parsley, chopped for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Add the whole can of san marzan tomatoes, crushing the whole tomatoes with your hand. Add the tomato paste, sun-dried tomatoes + about 2 tablespoons of the oil left in the jar, thawed spinach, garlic, dried basil, dried oregano, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, wine and 1 1/2 cups water. Give everything a good stir to combine and then add the dry pasta, fontina cheese, asiago cheese and parmesan cheese, toss everything to evenly coat. Push down gently on the pasta to get most of it under sauce.
3. Tightly cover the baking dish and bake for 40-45 minutes. Uncover and break the burrata cheese over top of the pasta. Bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from the oven and garnish with parsley and or basil. Cut and serve.

*be sure the parmasen cheese doesn't have animal rennet in it