Baked Diatlini Pasta with Mozzarella cheese

Baked Ditalini pasta is a great choice when you're going for a cheesy, runny sauce baked pasta dish. There's something natural and right about baking pasta — it absorbs all the liquid in the casserole, becoming one with the sauce and vegetables. Baking pasta is tricky, though. You don't want soggy pasta; it needs to hold its texture. To get there, you need to be pretty precise. In this recipe I used Ditalini, but any short pasta will do — Cavatelli, Orzo, Conchiglie, Pastina, you name it. The idea is to have bite-sized pasta alongside the vegetables so it's easy to eat and you get pasta and vegetables in every bite. It's important to use good mozzarella. It doesn't have to be Mozzarella di Bufala — although that's the best quality — any cow's mozzarella will do just fine, as long as it's fresh.

Why is Baked Diatlini pasta recipe working ?

When you're entertaining, your hands are full — a few dishes on the go, some made fresh on the spot, some prepped in advance. I like to make as many "autopilot" dishes as possible: stick it in the oven and serve when guests arrive. That's exactly the idea here. Baked Ditalini pasta is an amazing dish that'll have your guests asking for the recipe, and it's also pretty easy and comfortable to make. The ingredients you need are simple — some vegetables, a few kinds of cheese, chicken stock, and wine. You can play with the ingredients as much as you want. Add different vegetables, swap in other cheeses, or throw in some meat or chicken to make it more of a full-on casserole.