Baked Pasta with Pesto & Ricotta

I’ve mentioned how much I love Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone book. I wanted to find a recipe in the book and I could not find it in my apartment. I never took it out of the place and now I can’t find it, crazy!

I remembered a recipe in the book that I wanted to use- I knew that it involved beans, pasta, ricotta, and pesto. So I made my own version! This turned out amazing. The flavors work really well together and I love the freshness of this dish.

1 bag of orecchiette pasta or shells (approx 1 pd)
1 can of fire-roasted tomatoes or 5 tomatoes, diced
1 and 1/2 cups of navy beans, rinsed
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
1/4 cup of whole wheat panko crumbs
small handful of part skim mozzerella cheese
1 cup of part-skim ricotta mixed with about 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest, 2 teaspoons of olive oil, salt, and fresh cracked pepper
Pesto (use your favorite recipe- I experimented and used 2 large handfuls of basil leaves, 1 garlic clove, extra virgin olive oil, salt, cracked pepper, parmesan cheese)

Cook the pasta until al dente then drain. Mix the pasta with the beans, tomatoes, thyme and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.

Layer the pasta, bean, and tomato mixture in a oil sprayed casserole dish. Then drizzle pesto over the top of the dish. It doesn’t have to be completely covered, just drizzle as much as you want. Then layer the ricotta lemon mixture over the pesto and then sprinkle the mozzerella cheese in the empty spots. Then sprinkle the panko crumbs over the dish.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes or until cheese is good and melty.