Tomato and mozarella pasta bake. Basically

 Pasta bake isn't something I make that often really. Which is odd as I love the contrast of the gooey, mild mozzarella with a full flavoured sauce all hot from the oven. Recently Sainsburys asked me if I wanted to put together a recipe using some of their Basics range. I'm a big fan of Basics and economy ranges, as someone who mainly purchases unprocessed food, there is little to be lost slinging the familiar orange and white packaging in my trolley.

This pasta bake is an ideal midweek dinner, it's easy, relatively quick to cook and should you so wish you could make it more of a proper dinner with a bowl of salad and some garlicky bread on the table too. For us it was a post Brownies, off our knees meal.

Tomato and mozarella pasta bake (all the starred ingredients were Basics)

1 red onion
2 carrots
1 stick celery
2 cloves garlic*
1 tin anchovies in olive oil
1/2 punnet chestnut mushrooms
1/2 packet cherry tomatoes
1 carton chopped tomatoes*
Splodge tomato puree
2 heaped teaspoons red pesto
1 teaspoon oregano
1 ball mozzarella, sliced*
Pasta*

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees
Put a pan of water on for the pasta
Chop the onion, garlic, carrots and celery as finely as you can (I used the food processor)
Open the tin of anchovies and tip the olice oil into a big frying pan, turn the pan onto a low heat and add the anchovies and veggies
Let that cook down really slowly for about 10 minutes or so while you chop the mushrooms up and the cherry tomatoes in half
Just as your veggies start to colour, add the mushrooms and tomatoes and stir
Add the tomatoes & rinse the carton out with a little water adding this too
Splodge in some tomato puree, the red pesto and oregano
Cook down gently ish until most of the water has cooked out of the sauce - this took about 20 minutes

Meanwhile cook the pasta until it's a couple of minutes shy of being done, drain and pour into an oven proof dish
Top with the sliced mozzarella and bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes

If you're us, serve on your knees in front of The Big Bang Theory

Thanks to Sainsburys for some of the ingredients