Some ailments can only be treated by copious amounts of theraputic food. Used car shopping is one of them. So is putting fenders on bikes. We did both this weekend and exhausted, sore and exasperated, found ourselves in need of some major food therapy.

For my money, there’s nothing more theraputic than tomato-based pasta sauces. Plop the whole lot in a baking dish with alternating layers of basil, freshly grated parmesean and gorgeous, salty fresh mozzarella and chuck it in the oven, and you’ve got all the requirements of theraputic food: richness (parmesian), gooeyness (mozz), a hint of spice (crushed red chiles in the tomatoes) etc. As far as I can tell, and Jamie Oliver’s explanation seems to agree, this is the Italian version of mac ‘n cheese, which is about as comfort-food-ish as you can get. It also makes a refreshing lunch when eaten cold.

Its really dead simple to make (we wussed out and did not put equal parts mozz and pasta into the mix, instead we used one large ball of fresh mozz, about 1/2 lb. the dish could probably do with a little more, but was certainly not bad with only this much). I couldn’t find the orecchiette either (next time I see it, I’m just going to buy it, because it is never there when I am looking specifically for it), I used large-ish bow ties instead, and they worked quite well. I think the real key is the quality of the pasta, rather than the shape…although noodles might be weird.

baked pasta with tomatoes and mozzarella (pasta al forno con pomodori e mozzarella)

Servings: Jamie claims it feeds 4. By 4 he means 4 ravenously hungry 21 yr old males. So far it has served us for 2 dinners, and 4 lunches, and probably has about 2 more servings left to go.

Ingredients:
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 white onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 or 2 dried red chillies, crumbled
• 1.5kg ripe tomatoes or 3 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes (due to the fact that it is June and we don’t live in Italy, we used canned)
• a large handful of fresh basil leaves
• optional: 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 400g dried orecchiette
• 4 big handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 x 150g balls of mozzarella

Preheat your oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6 and put a large pot of salted water on to boil. To an appropriately sized pan add a couple of lugs of good extra virgin olive oil, your onion, garlic and chilli and slowly fry for about 10 minutes on a medium to low heat until softened but without any colour. If you’re using fresh tomatoes, remove the core with the tip of a small knife, plunge them into the boiling water for about 40 seconds until their skin starts to come away, then remove with a slotted spoon or sieve and remove the pan from the heat.

Put the tomatoes into a bowl and run cold water over them, then slide the skins off, squeeze out the pips and roughly chop. Add your fresh or tinned tomatoes to the onion and garlic, with a small glass of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes. Now put them through a food processor or liquidizer to make a loose sauce. Tear your basil leaves into the sauce and correct the seasoning with salt, pepper and a little swig of red wine vinegar.

When the liquidized sauce tastes perfect, bring the water back to the boil. Add the orecchiette to the water and cook according to the packet instructions, then drain and toss with half of the tomato sauce and a handful of Parmesan. Get yourself an appropriately sized baking tray, pan or earthenware dish and rub it with a little olive oil. Layer a little pasta in the tray, followed by some tomato sauce, a handful of grated Parmesan and 1 sliced-up mozzarella ball, then repeat these layers until you’ve used all the ingredients, ending with a good layer of cheese on top. Pop it into the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden, crisp and bubbling.

Pics to come.