Saturday Dinner - Tomato, Pasta, and Potato Bake

This was another recommendation from a friend!  I'd classify this one as good, but not great.  It has the potential to be great, but needs a little something.  It also takes about 30 minutes to prep and 1 1/2 hours to cook!  That's a LOT of time!  I will say it makes for a SERIOUS quantity of leftovers which is a plus, and I actually liked it better the second day...another serious plus for me!

This is the picture from the original website...our dinner was ready at 9:30 and I forgot to take a picture of the final product!

I'll definitely try again with some tweeks...I'm sharing the recipe with the tweeks I would make.

The Ingredients:

• 1 lb Rigatoni noodles
• 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 & 1/4 - 1 & 1/2 tsp dried oregano...mix this in with the tomatoes
• 1 lb Yukon gold potatoes - peeled & sliced 1/8" thick, then cut in halves or quarters
• 1/2 medium onion - diced
• Grated parmesan
• S&P
• 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce

First peel & slice the potatoes and onion - I used this mandolin, but you could also use a cheese slicer.  doing it by hand would be.a.pain!

Now start layering...here's the order:

1/2 of Noodles

1/3rd of tomatoes + oregano mixture

1/2 of Potatoes

All of the onion

1/2 cup Parmesan

S&P

then...

rest of pasta

1/3rd of tomatoes + oregano mixture

rest of potatoes

S&P

remaining tomatoes plus a little spaghetti sauce for some more flavor.

Like I mentioned, I'm giving you this recipe with the tweeks I would make, so below are pictures from how it was made according to the original recipe.

Definitely will mix the oregano in next time...it was too distinct this way

The potato slices were really big!  That's why I suggest halving them at least!

Once you've layered everything in the pan, add about 2 cups of boiling water...basically till the water reaches the top of the potatoes

Then cover the dish with foil, place it on a rimmed baking sheet (because it will drip).  Bake at 400 degrees until liquid is absorbed and potatoes are tender...approximately 1 hour.

When all the liquid is absorbed, take off the foil and top with the last 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese and cook for another 20 minutes.

That's it (I know "that's it" is a bit sarcastic!)  But it is yummy and I think if you prepare it in advance it won't seem so overwhelming.

Enjoy!