I think it was a couple of years back that everyone was talking about the one-dish oven baked spaghetti meal that was supposed to be super delicious. And then recently I saw a post from a lovely food blogger on Instagram, "Vancouver with Love", and she had made a variation for dinner. 

Anyhow, me being me, I glanced quickly at a recipe and then decided to make my own version. I've made it twice in the last week and it's a hit in our house.

It does require a bit of prep, because I pre-cook the tomatoes into a variation of a confit, but it's all still in one dish. This makes a lot of food, so, we love it because it's about 6 servings worth of a meal for us!

The cabbage seems like an odd choice, but it is cooked iwth the tomatoes and just becomes a nice texture, the flavour is very mild, but, in my book, it's perfect, because it's vegetables aplenty.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup cashew pieces, - put to soak in 1/2 cup filtered water

Tomato confit:
• 1/2 head of cabbage, chopped into 1 cm pieces
• About 700 gms cherry tomatoes, which is about 2 pints
• 4 - 5 medium cloves of garlic, chunked
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp each dried oregano and thyme 
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Veggie and Pasta Ingredients 
• 6 kale leaves, washed and chopped into smallish pieces
• 1/2 block (or more) extra firm tofu, chopped into thinner pieces about 1 cm by 1/2 cm
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 3/4 packet of spaghetti or linguini - you can use more, but I like a higher sauce to pasta ratio.

• One bunch fresh basil

Equipment needed
• 10 x 13 oven-proof dish
• High-speed blender to make cashew cream

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 370°F
2. Place the cabbage in the bottom of the pan, and then put the tomatoes over the cabbage, and toss the garlic over it all, sliding the chunks into the gaps between the tomatoes.
3. Sprinkle the salt, sugar, and herbs over top of everything and then pour the olive oil over everything. Mix things lightly with hands to ensure the tomatoes are coated in oil.
4. Place the dish into the centre rack of the oven and cook for 20 minutes, remove and stir everything up.
5. Return to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes. Mixture is done when the tomatoes are starting to fall apart, and give a bit under a spatula

While the tomatoes and cabbage are cooking prep the ingredients below

Ingredients
• 6 kale leaves, washed and chopped into smallish pieces
• 1/2 block (or more) extra firm tofu, chopped into thinner pieces about 1 cm by 1/2 cm
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 3/4 packet of spaghetti or linguini - you can use more, but I like a higher sauce to pasta ratio

Instructions
1. Once the tomatoes are finished, remove the dish from the oven.
2. Be careful with this next step, it's hot!
3. Add the chopped kale to the mixture and stir it up well. It should already begin to wilt.
4. Push the tomato veggie mixture aside and put the uncooked spaghetti under the vegetables spread across the bottom of the pan.
5. Cover the pasta with all of the veggies, and then add the two cups of stock over the whole dish.
6. Cover with aluminum foil to seal everything up well.
7. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

8. While the dish is in the oven, rinse your cashews and put into a blender with 1/2 cup filtered water, blend very well.

9. Remove tray from oven, CAREFULLY open to release steam, add the cashew cream, stir the mixture up carefully and replace the foil and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.
10. Remove the tray from the oven and let it sit on your counter covered for five more minutes.

11. While the tray is resting, remove the stems from your basil and stack the leaves on top of each other and roll them up and thinly slice them.

12. Carefully uncover the mixture. Add the freshly chopped basil to the dish and gently mix.
Serve.