Summer often spoils garden and balcony owners with aromatic home-grown tomatoes. But what to do with the large amount of garden tomatoes when the tomato plants are overly generous? In our tomato casserole, the home harvest is perfectly showcased. And the best part: those lucky enough to use different varieties of tomatoes can also showcase them attractively in the preparation of the tomato casserole.
Ingredients for our tomato casserole:
- 500 g pasta
- two handfuls of different tomatoes for decoration
- about 1 kg fresh tomatoes for the sauce (if you don’t have enough home-grown tomatoes, you can partially or completely replace them with canned tomatoes – preferably San Marzano)
- 2 medium onions
- 10 black olives
- 125 g mozzarella
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 200 ml dry red wine or alternatively 200 ml vegetable broth
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- about 5 tbsp olive oil
- a bit of dried oregano
- a handful of fresh basil leaves
- salt, pepper
Preparation:
1. Dice the onions and sauté them in a pot or deep pan with the sunflower oil until translucent.
2. Deglaze with the broth or red wine and let it reduce slightly.
3. Dice the tomatoes and add them as well.
4. Peel the garlic cloves and cut them into thin slices. Add the slices to the tomatoes and let it simmer at low heat for 30 to 40 minutes.
5. Cut the olives into thin rings and fold them into the sauce. Now season the sauce with salt and pepper.
6. Preheat the oven to 180°C (convection baking).
7. Cook the pasta in salted water until very al dente, then add it to the tomato sauce and mix well.
8. Pour the pasta-tomato sauce mixture into a casserole dish. Halve the remaining tomatoes and place them cut side up on the pasta, pressing them down slightly.
9. Tear the mozzarella into small pieces and distribute them between the halved tomatoes.
10. Place the casserole dish in the preheated oven and bake the tomato casserole for about 20 minutes.
11. Mix the oregano with the olive oil and drizzle the finished casserole with this mixture. Decorate with fresh basil leaves and enjoy.
Bon appétit!