Ingredients
1 large/2 medium courgettes (use sense, this is for 4)
oil for frying (olive if you like)
1 can chopped tomatoes
couple tablespoons of cream
salt and pepper
4 large handfuls of short paste - fusilli, penne kind of thing
200g mozarella
handful of grated parmesan
halve a large courgette lengthwise then slice it into 5mm semicircles -
Heat oil in a pan medium heat and add the courgette. Fry for at least 15 minutes until they are golden and shrunken
Add the can of tomaties and season, simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes.
While the sauce simmers, cook the pasta in boiling water until it is just not cooked.
Drain the pasta and add to the tomato sauce, Add the cream and stir through
Tear the mozarella into pieces and stir through the pasta. Tip all into a shallow wide ovenproof dish - you want to maximise the amount of mozarella exposed to heat
Sprinkle over grated parmesan and bake in the oven for 20 mins or so at 180C until the chees goes golden and stringy.
Serve and enjoy
Method
This is a search for a food memory which the Late Wife used to rustle up for the Offspring when they were all a lot younger. It is also good for meat free Monday if you do that kind of thing. It is warm, comforting and almost sweet.
This ended up pretty close to the original (slightly better I might say) and went down well with the Offspring that were present.
To get the right flavour you really need to be patient with the frying of the courgettes. This is abit of a theme. Just cooked courgettes are watery, bland and texturally uninteresting. Long fried courgettes which caramelise and dehydrate have a bite and some reall toffee flavour going on which then work well with the slightly tart tomatoes and the addition of a little cream blends them together with the mozarella seamlessly.