Pasta Bakes - recipe ideas?

Penelope_Penguin

Hi! For chicken pasta bake, I'd cook pasta and spread it in an ovenproof dish. Add the cooked chicken and top with a sauce (cheese and sweetcorn, or tomato vegetable would be good). Sprinkle with grated cheese or breadcrumbs and bake at gas 5 until the cheese is melted.

Plenty of other suggestions here - pasta bake ideas.

HTH, Penny. x

justin1972uk

orchid-96 wrote: »

I do a tuna mayo salad one (cold) but have only ever done a bake with one of those jar sauces..

You don't need a special jar of sauce. Here's my recipe for Chicken and Mushroom pasta bake - which is probably nothing like everybody else's recipes, as I cook the pasta first.

Chicken and Mushroom Pasta Bake

Two large onions (Aprox 60p)
Three teacup-fulls of frozen mushrooms (Aprox 40p)
One level dessert spoon of dried tarragon (Aprox 12p)
A dash of Balsamic (or malt) Vinegar (negligible)
Four mug-fulls of pasta twirls (Aprox 15p)
Salt and Pepper
Garlic Granules (Aprox 5p)
Campbell's Condensed Mushroom Soup (47p)
Four ASDA Smart Price frozen chicken Breasts (Aprox £1.80)
Handful of frozen garden peas (5p)
Few squirts of spray oil (negligible)
Fifty grams of grated cheese (Aprox 30p)
ASDA Smart Price Chicken Stock Cube (Aprox 5p)

1. Add as much water as you can to a kettle and switch on
2. On a non-stick baking tray squirt some spray oil and dust with salt, pepper and garlic granules. Place the frozen chicken breasts on top, squirt with more oil and dust the tops of the chicken in a similar fashion. Place in the oven at 200 degrees and time for twenty minutes
3. Add the boiling water to the biggest pan you can find and bring back to the boil on your hob. Once the water is boiling again, add the pasta twirls along with a good shake of salt and turn down the heat to simmer
4. In a small saucepan add half a teacup of water, a good dash of Balsamic Vinegar (enough to make the water go brown) and the dried tarragon. Boil down until the liquid reduces to about half it's height and the tarragon smells like brewing tea. There should be very little liquid in the pan. Remove from the heat and leave to one side
5. Chop the two onions thickly (I usually leave them in rings) and fry in a non-stick wok with a few squirts of spray oil, salt and pepper. Add water if the onions appear to be browning too quickly. Once cooked through until translucent, add to a large deep baking tray
6. Bash the bag of frozen mushrooms and measure out three teacup-fulls into your baking tray
7. By this time, your pasta should be done. Drain well in a collender and then add to the baking tray
8. Turn your chicken breasts over and time for another twenty minutes if you hadn't already
9. Add the Campbell's Condensed Mushroom Soup to the vinegar and tarragon mixture in the saucepan. Bring to boil whilst whisking all the time. You must continue to whisk as otherwise the vinegar causes the soup to separate
10. Add the soup mix to the baking tray
11. Remove chicken breasts from the oven and cut into strips. Stir the strips into the baking tray mixture
12. Boil the kettle again and make chicken stock in a teacup by adding just a splash of boiling water. This will make a paste, rather than a gravy, which you should then drizzle and stir through the mixture in the baking tray
13. Finally add a handful of frozen garden peas (or if you prefer, canned or frozen sweetcorn)

Cover the baking tray with foil and bake at 200 degrees in the middle of the oven for about twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, remove the foil, sprinkle with the grated cheese and return to the oven whilst you set the table.

lynzpower

I am quite new to them too, but have done a couple for OH this last few weeks. Amazingly he prefers bakes to the usual way we have pasta it doesnt seem much different to me, but im not a big pasta fan I have to say.

1) spag bol bake
Make spag bol up as usual ,chopped toms mince onions,garlic, basil, sliced mushrooms chopped onions. Meanwhile cook pasta in a pan for about 3 mins less than the packet says. Drain pasta mix with mince mix, put in a mini pyrex ( or whatever you are using) cover with grated cheese stick in oven for 10 mins.

Other options are creamy chicken pasta bake ( cooked chicken- i use leftover chicken froma roast, peppers, mushrooms, sweetcorn courgettes etc, fried off, then add a large tub creme fraiche, then add to part cooked pasta- transfer to dish as above top with cheese. Also good with loads of wilted spinach in .

Basic tomato pasta I use passata as the sauce with assorted veg, maybe some bacon bits ( i use value ones, good thickness) or chicken, tuna I guess could be used ( i dont like it tho, so havnet tried this) stir it all round in a pan after youve fried off the meat & veg, then add the passata then mix with pasta, into the dish then top with cheese etc.

I dont know if im doing it "wrong" but its gone down ever so well, and is a permanent fixture on the menu due to easiness

justin1972uk

I guess everybody cooks (or par-cooks) their pasta first then? I thought it was just me!

JillD_2

I do tuna sweetcorn pasta bake.

Cook the pasta til al dente.
Mix with cheese sauce (butter melted, flour mixed in, then milk stirred in, then cheese).
Mix in a large tin of sweetcorn and two large tins tuna.
Add in any other veg - I do red pepper and leeks. I soften them in the pan first in some olive oil before mixing in.
Whack the whole lot in a big shallow dish and sprinkle top with cheese and breadcrumbs.
Yum

WychWillow

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to freeze pasta bakes? I made one the other night with spaghetti, onions, bacon and cheese sauce. It was lovely but way too much for my family and I ended up throwing the rest out which I hated doing. If I wouldn't be able to freeze something like this could I at least stick it in the fridge and have it for lunch the next day?

elly2

we had pasta bake on friday what was left was wraped and put in the fridge.......this afternoon i chucked it in a pan with some extra milk heated it up and the kids ate it for lunch......tomorrow the kids are having sausage and ham pasta bake(sausage left over from tea tonight and some of the ham from the mega huge bag from the meat van trip)

Ishtar

WychWillow wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to freeze pasta bakes? I made one the other night with spaghetti, onions, bacon and cheese sauce. It was lovely but way too much for my family and I ended up throwing the rest out which I hated doing. If I wouldn't be able to freeze something like this could I at least stick it in the fridge and have it for lunch the next day?

No problem freezing - I usually do this as I make double the quantity. I let it defrost before reheating, which I often do in the microwave or in the oven if I've other things to go in with it.

The pasta can sometimes be a little too cooked when reheated, but it's not really noticable - well, my lot haven't complained yet!

You can also stick it in the fridge and have for lunch the next day - either hot or cold. OH often gets leftovers in his lunch box.

D.

Buffy_the_Vampire_Bat

I tend to snap up tins of Campbell's low fat condensed soups when they are on offer (sometimes 4 tins for a £1, other times buy 1 get 1 free) as I find they make good sauces for pasta bakes

A couple of mine:

Chicken and bacon pasta bake - leftover roast chicken cut into pieces, some grilled bacon snipped into pieces with scissors, some semi cooked pasta, frozen peas, chopped up tomatoes (usually fresh ones, left over from a salad), black pepper, oregano, one tin of Campbells condensed low fat chicken soup, dash of Worcester sauce, and about 2-3 tablespoons of water to "loosen" the soup up a bit. Mix all of this together and bung in a dish with some grated cheese and paprika sprinkled on top. Bake in oven until cheese is melted (and slightly crispy on top in my house )

Tuna and mushroom pasta bake - tinned tuna, chopped up closed cup mushrooms, Campbells condensed low fat mushroom soup, oregano/mixed herbs, black pepper, some water to "loosen" the soup, and some semi cooked pasta. As previous bake - combine ingredients, transfer to dish, cheese and paprika on top, in oven until cooked to desired consistency.

Sorry about inprecise quantities, but I hope this gives a general idea

stressedoutmumof1

I make a lovely sausage and pasta bake.

Chop an onion and fry, add chopped up sausages, tomato puree, grated carrot, veg stock and red wine - leave to simmer.

Cook 500g penne pasta according to packet.

Make a white sauce using 50g butter, 50g plain flour and 1 pint milk.

Put half the pasta in a baking dish, add sausage mixture, put the rest of the pasta on the top, pour over white sauce, grate some cheese on the top and bake in the oven till the cheese goes bubbly and golden.