Baked Shells with Cherry Tomatoes

Name: Baked Shells with Cherry Tomatoes
Yield: serves 6
Ingredients: 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; 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

December 14, 2011

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.

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