You can make this colorful and fresh-tasting dish anytime with a batch of Twenty-Minute Marinara Sauce and cherry or grape tomatoes, which are in the market almost year-round and often are sweeter than large tomatoes. This is one baked dish in which I use fresh mozzarella in the filling. I love its texture and fresh taste in uncooked or quick cooked pastas, and these can be lost in long cooking. Buy small whole mozzarella balls, an inch in diameter, if you can. Sometimes they are called bocconcini, little mouthfuls, but in my neighborhood the supermarket calls them ciliegine, little cherries. Toss them whole with the hot pasta so they keep their integrity in the baking dish—you don’t want them to melt away like shredded mozzarella on top.

　　

Ingredients

serves 6

　　2 tablespoons butter for the baking dish

　　3 cups Marinara Sauce (page 130)

　　1 pound dried pasta shells—preferably large (not giant), about 1 1/2 inches

　　10 ounces (1 box) cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half

　　3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano

　　1 1/2 cups shredded low-moisture mozzarella (see box, page 197)

　　10 ounces fresh mozzarella, small whole bocconcini or ciliegine, or cut into 1-inch pieces if larger

　　1/4 cup shredded fresh basil leaves

　　

Recommended Equipment

A 14-inch skillet for tossing the pasta and fillings

　　A 3-quart baking dish for a heaping dish, or a 4-quart dish for a shallower dish with a larger, crispy top

　　

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400°. Butter the bottom and sides of the baking dish, and spread half the marinara sauce in the bottom.

　　

Step 2

Cook the shells until slightly underdone, a minute or two less than package directions. While the pasta is cooking, heat the remainder of the sauce in the skillet.

　　

Step 3

Drain the cooked pasta in a colander, shake off excess water, and dump it into the pan. Toss pasta with sauce until coated, over medium-low heat, then toss with the sliced tomatoes for a minute or so to heat and soften them, but don’t break them up.

　　

Step 4

Off the heat, toss the shells with half the grated hard cheese and half the shredded mozzarella, and turn everything into the baking dish. Scatter the fresh mozzarella balls or pieces and the shredded basil all over, and fold them into the pasta.

　　

Step 5

Spread the pasta level in the dish, sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese all over, and then the remaining grated cheese.

　　

Step 6

Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until the top is crusty and nicely colored.

　　From Lidia's Family table by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright (c) 2004 by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Published by Knopf.Lidia Bastianich hosts the hugely popular PBS show, "Lidia's Italian-American kitchen" and owns restaurants in New York City, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh. Also the author of Lidia's Italian Table and Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen, she lives in Douglaston, New York. Jay Jacob's journalism has appeared in many national magazines.From the Trade Paperback edition.