Easy, Economical, Crowd-Pleasing Pasta

I figure every family has at least one, crowd-pleasing, all-purpose meal. Kids love it, company loves it, it's easy to prepare, inexpensive and—if you have vegetarians in your life—they'll be tipping their forks to you too.

We call my family's favorite dinner Bonnie Pasta, because we first ate it chez my ex-sister-in-law, Bonnie. When I brought it to the monthly pot luck dinner of my book club, The Gourmet Readers, everyone asked for the recipe.

As I imagine happens with so many recipes that get passed along, I revamped the ingredients. Three generations from now, I picture the whole dish being unrecognizable, perhaps a rice casserole with zucchini, instead of a pasta meal with tomatoes. 

Unlike Bonnie—who uses real garlic—in my never-ending quest for shortcuts, I substitute garlic powder. I once tried making it Bonnie's way and found the dish less tasty than when I prepare it with garlic powder, which reminds me of my first husband's uncle. His wife would prepare fine cuts of beef, but he never liked them as much as the cheap meat his mother always served. 

Bonnie pasta is practically a one-dish meal, and summer is a great season to serve it when tomatoes are at their most tasty. On the other hand, this dinner will warm you in wintertime.

Like a kid who can't color within the lines, I am incapable of following a recipe with exactitude, so I hope you can tolerate the hazy boundaries on some of the measurements. The worrywart in me loves that, no matter what proportions of ingredients I use, Bonnie pasta always comes out to perfection.

We enjoy it with salad, peas and sourdough bread. And to simplify, I put frozen peas in the colander before draining the rigatoni. The hot water cooks the peas to a pleasing al dente, and no big deal if a few get mixed in with the dish. Bon appetit!

BONNIE PASTA

3 lb. ripe tomatoes

bread crumbs

grated parmesan cheese

garlic powder (no skimping on this)

olive oil

dash of salt optional (I add salt after it's on my plate)

1 box of Rigatonni

Heat oven to 400.

Mix bread crumbs (seasoned or plain) and grated parmesan cheese in equal proportion or experiment with different proportions for a total of around 1½ to 2 cups. I use roughly 4 parts bread crumbs to one part cheese. Mix in a generous amount of garlic powder. Set aside.

Pour more than just a coating of olive oil (around 1/8 inch or more, don't skimp) to cover the bottom of a baking pan. Slice off bottoms and tops of tomatoes and discard. Cut each tomato in half (around its equator, so to speak). Swish the larger cut surface of each half tomato in the olive oil, then set it on its other/smaller side in the baking pan.

Spoon a generous mound of the mixture of bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and garlic powder onto each cut tomato. Bake at 400 degrees for around 40 minutes—bread crumb mixture should be browned.

Meanwhile, cook the rigatoni according to directions on the box.

Mash the baked tomatoes with a spatula and toss with rigatoni. For informal occasions, such as family dinners, I toss it right in the pasta pot after draining, which helps to keep it hot. Yet even at room temp, this pasta is delicious. Serve with grated parmesan cheese on the side. Salt to taste.

Check out more of my easy, healthful recipes.

Do you have a quick, easy, crowd-pleaser of a recipe with only a few (normal, e.g. not lemongrass) ingredients? If so, I'd love to hear from you in the comments below.