Baked cavatelli

First, cook pasta as directed either by the box or how your Mom used to. Most of time you get a pot of slightly salted water boiling and drop the noodles in. In this instance we used cavatelli, feel free to swap out for rigatoni.

After you have cooked the pasta to al dente, drain in a colander, return to cooking pot and toss with sauce. What's "al dente" you ask. Good Question. It's a fancy way of saying "not to hard, not to soft", "firm but not soggy". Translated, it literally means to the tooth. What's the best way to know if your pasta is in fact "al dente?" Another good question. try it out while it is boiling. Bite the noodle right in the middle. Some people throw a noodle at a wall and see if it sticks. I'm not real big on that but you gotta try everything once. Why care if you pasta is cooked "al dente?" Yet another good question. If you like soggy pasta, cook the pasta for as long as you like. If not, you should cook you pasta al dente because after you pull it from the heat it will continue to cook. After you drain it, it will continue to cook. And As you toss it in sauce it will continue to cook. You cook it al dente so after all those steps you pasta is still in one peice. I think, I could be wrong. Someone should ask Mario Batali. He would know. *whew*

Spray your baking pan with non stick spary. Layer the bottom of the pan with sauce. Add you tossed pasta to the baking pan and add cheese to the top of the your pasta as you like. We like a lot of cheese.

Bake @ 400 for 25 min and Broil for 5

cooking times may vary.

Salud