Rosmarino is my name

and yummy-cheesy-baked-fantasticness is my game!

I suppose you can make this recipe with just any old pasta and it will be good but there's something about the shape, the way it eats, the way it's just perfect makes it one of my most favorite Pasta shapes to use for a bake, specially a relatively expensive one like this. It makes it seem even more indulgent, I can't really explain why it just does!?!

Now you get a few variations of rice shaped pasta; Rosmarino, Orzo, Riso & Risoni. Rosmarino is the largest of the lot, then it's Orzo, then Risoni and Riso the smallest. Orzo is the Greek variety and more often than not found in Greek Deli's and specialty grocery stores. Orzo is most commonly made from white flour whereas Rosmarino, Riso and Risoni made from Durum wheat.

I know all of it might sound greek to you but I am a firm believer that knowledge is power! If you know where your food comes from, what it's made of and the varieties (if any) available, you will know how to use them and more often than not you will be over the moon with the outcome. That's why I always research the ingredients for a new recipe just as much as I research the methods, equipment etc.

My Grey Beard isn't the biggest rice and pasta fanatic but I am so I always try to find ways to make it interesting and no so pasta'ish. Rice shaped pasta seems to be his more preferred pasta shape because (and I quote) "it is easy to eat". That statement makes it obvious that he doesn't like 'long' pasta and I often make him a short variety when I feel like the 'long' version.

The dish I'm showing today is rich, no doubt about it but if you use it as a side dish you get a small piece and it won't do much harm should you be a carb/calorie counter but I can guarantee you it will be worth it. You can serve it with a salad as a meat free dish but here I served it as a side to a braai with a little tomato and red onion salad for some freshness. What's great is the cheese on top hides the delicious toppings.. a wonderful surprise to chomp in to! The mushrooms and roast tomatoes I made can be used in a variety of dishes and are handy stand-by recipes.

Here's how I went about it;

Cooked the pasta and while it was cooking I fried the garlic.

Then I mixed the creamy stuff, cheesy stuff, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper with the pasta and dumped the whole shebang into an oven proof dish

I then topped with mushrooms

Then tomato

then more cheese

and bake to golden goodness

Easy-Peasy-Cheesy yumness!!

Here's the recipe for the Pasta, the Mushrooms and the Tomatoes

Cheesy Rosmarino Bake

(serves ± 8 -10 as a side and ± 6 as a main dish)

Ingredients:

500g packet Rosamarino 500ml cream 400g mozzarella 1 cup Grated Parmesan 2 garlic cloves - chopped 15ml Butter 1 teaspoon oregano. At least 1 teaspoon of salt Freshly ground plack pepper

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C

Cook the Rosmarino pasta according to the instructions on the packet check towards the end of the cooking time to ensure the grains don't overcook. While the pasta is cooking heat the oil in a small pan and fry the chopped garlic for a few seconds, do not brown the garlic. Remove from the heat. Once the Rosmarino is cooked, drain in a colander and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the cream and gently stir to mix. Add half the grated mozzarella, two thirds of the parmesan, salt, pepper, half a teaspoon oregano and the garlic the pasta and cream and gently stir to mix. Spoon into a +- 20 x 30cm oven proof baking dish and sort of level it out Scatter the cooked mushrooms over. Now for the tomatoes; I gently kinda pressed them into the pasta, just a bit. Now you scatter the rest of the mozzarella and parmesan over. For a bit of decoration I sprinkled a bit of black pepper in a line down the middle.

Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes.

Serve with a salad as a meat-free meal, here I served it with a piece of boerewors and a little tomato and red onion salad.

(how do you prevent sausage on a plate to look like... well... like that?)

Here's how I made the Mushroom and Tomato toppings

Mushrooms:

heat a bit of olive oil in a a pan and add a punnet of thinly sliced portabellini mushrooms. Add salt, black pepper and a biggish pinch of dried oregano. Once the mushrooms start releasing their water add about 15-20ml dry white wine. Simmer the mushrooms until all the liquid has evaporated, once all the liquid has evaporated fry the soft mushrooms in the oil for a minute while stirring this is just to ensure that they are nice and dry. (you don't want watery mushroom puddles on your bake). Remove the mushrooms from the and set aside.

Tomatoes:

I used 3 ripe tomatoes. Slice the tomatoes into eights.

Add the tomato chunks to a biggish bowl and then add salt, pepper, 15ml sugar and 30ml oil. Mix to coat all the pieces of tomato.

Spoon the prepared tomatoes on to a baking tray and bake in a warm oven (about 190°C) for 20 minutes until the tomato chunks look dry on the outside but feel a bit squichy when you press them. You don't want them to watery, bake for another few minutes if they are still to wet. (It's clear to see on the photos)

Once done, remove from the oven and set to one side.