Vegetarian Baked Pasta

Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Servings: 8
Yield: 8 servings

Description

A casserole layered with penne pasta, tomato sauce, portobello mushrooms, mozzarella and gorgonzola cheese.

Ingredients

1 pound penne pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces portobello mushrooms, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
8 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

Directions

1 Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain. Pour a glass of ice water over the pasta to stop the cooking, but do not rinse thoroughly.
2 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat a 9 x 13 glass pan with olive oil. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in large skillet. Add mushrooms. Cook for 2 minutes then add basil, oregano and garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add sauce to mushroom mixture and stir.
3 To assemble, pour enough sauce in the bottom of the pan to cover. Combine the remaining sauce and the pasta. Place one-third of sauced noodles on top of sauce in pan. Top with 1 cup of mozzarella and one-half of the gorgonzola. Repeat for a second layer. Put the final third of the noodles in the pan and top with the final 2 cups of mozzarella.
4 Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until cheese is browned. Serve.