by Kathy Hamman Miller

Ingredients:

Casserole:

1 lb uncooked penne, or my new favorite – gemelli pasta.

24 ounce jar of marinara sauce

3 cups water

24 ounce bag of the frozen cooked meatballs thawed. I used cocktail size – Italian style for this recipe. The bag comes with 48 smaller meatballs.

Topping:

2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

Your choice for toppings – Fresh chopped herbs such as parsley or arugula.

Parmesan cheese, all totally optional for garnish.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a 9 x 13 baking casserole dish, dump and combine thoroughly the marinara sauce, water, and pasta. Add the meatballs on top of the mixture, rotating to cover with the sauce, making sure you have all the pasta covered. The meatballs should be on top and the pasta should be under the sauce.

Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes in a preheated oven. Your pasta should still be firm, but not cooked through.

They call it “al dente.” Remember you have another 5 to 10 minutes of baking time left for it to finish cooking through when you put it back in the oven with the cheese topping.

Next step is to remove from oven, sprinkling the top with the shredded mozzarella cheese topping, baking uncovered for another 5 to 10 minutes. The cheese should be melted, and the tops of both the meatballs and cheese nicely browned.

The noodles should be tender. The total cooking time may vary in different ovens so do what Grandma always did, take a piece of pasta out to taste.

When ready, remove from oven and if garnishing, add the Parmesan and fresh cut herbs immediately. Serve and enjoy!