The Pasta Bake Sauce is made by Dolmio and comes in one size which is a 500g jar. Me and my boyfriend often eat pasta and enjoy it with different sauces. I saw this sauce in my local One Stop and as it was on offer I thought I would give it a go as it sounded really nice and also very simple to use as well. Although there are other Pasta Bake sauces in the Dolmio range this was the only one available. The dolmio range is well known for its large range of pasta sauces. Dolmio are one of my favourite brands of sauces as I think they always taste great and are good value.

~ PRICE/AVALIABILITY ~
You can purchase this from all supermarkets and some local shops. Prices may vary but the jars of Dolmio sauces are currently on offer at Waitrose & Tesco for any 2 for £3.00. You can also buy them from the other following supermarkets:
Sainsburys - £1.99
Ocado - Any 2 for £3.00
Asda - £1.92
Prices may vary at different times. The prices are for a 500g jar of sauce.

~ PACKAGING ~
The Pasta Bake comes in a glass jar with a green lid. Round the jar is a paper label which has a picture of pasta bake on the front and it also states that the sauce is Creamy Tomato. If you turn the jar round you can see on the other wise of the label is a list of ingredients, cooking instructions and nutritional information. As the glass jar is clear you can see the product inside the jar. The sauce is a light red/orange colour and you can see bits in the sauce which I presume are the herbs. To me the Dolmio sauces stand out quite well compared to other sauces due to the green dolmio lids on top of the sauces and the labels on the jars. These are recognisable as a familiar and well-known brand.

~ COOKING INSTRUCTIONS ~
The following instructions are how to cook a tasty meal for 4 people (
1. Cook 250g of pasta and place into an ovenproof dish (I always used brown penne pasta but you can choose whatever pasta you wish). After draining the pasta I poured it back into the saucepan as I wanted to add some other ingredients to it.
2. It suggests to brown 250g of diced chicken in a little oil for 4-5 minutes and place on the pasta in the oven dish. I like to use chopped up Mattesons smoked sausage which just needs warming up as it's pre-cooked already. I then tipped the sausage into the pasta in the saucepan and gave it a good stir to ensure it was all mixed in.
3. Pour over the sauce, stir through and sprinkle with grated cheese. When I opened the jar I could immediately smell the lovely smell of tomato. It smelt really nice and made my mouth water. I poured the sauce into the saucepan with the pasta and the other ingredients and mixed it altogether. I then poured this into an ovenproof dish and then sprinkled some cheese over the top.
4. Bake in an oven pre-heated to 200C/400F/Gas mark 6 for about 20 minutes until cheese has melted. I baked in an oven according to the instructions, until the cheese had melted and it was slightly golden on the top.

~ TASTE TEST ~
I served the pasta with some garlic bread for me and my boyfriend. Of course there was more than enough for us to eat so we would put the rest in the fridge and heat it up the following night rather than it going to waste. The pasta looked really appetising covered in the tomato sauce and it looked really tasty with the added sausage. The pasta was covered nicely in the sauce, due to me mixing the sauce in with the pasta before putting it into an oven proof dish. It tasted really creamy and although you could tell the sauce was tomato flavour the taste of tomato wasn't too strong and tasted lovely with the sausage. The cheese on top also added a nice tangy taste to the dish as well. The overall taste of the pasta bake was really nice and we enjoyed every mouthful of it. As the main ingredient is of course pasta it is very filling.

~ OTHER PRODUCTS IN THE RANGE~
You can also buy other Pasta bake sauces in the Dolmio range, these include the following:
* Carbonara
* Tomato & Cheese
* Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables
These are all available to buy in 500g jars only.

~ OVERALL OPINION ~
The Pasta Bake is really easy to cook and you can add your own ingredients to it to give the dish some extra flavour or texture. In terms of value, when the product is on offer I think it's very good offer and I always ensure I stock up on the different sauces to take advantage of the offer. I would definitely try the other Pasta Bake sauces in this range as I found it really tasty and full of flavour. Give this product 5 out of 5 stars as it's simple, quick and easy to cook and it tastes great.


(review also on ciao)