Pasta Bakes - recipe ideas?

kunekune

I do veg and macaroni cheese: make a cheese sauce, mix in lightly cooked mixed veges - I like cauliflower, leeks, broad beans and carrot - and some almost cooked pasta. Then mix it all together, add some extra cheese and maybe tomatoes on top, bake for about 20 minutes until crispy. Much nicer than ordinary macaroni cheese. You can also do it with tinned haricot beans instead of pasta.

A fast alternative to cheese sauce though not very frugal is boursin cheese: just put it in the pan with the hot pasta and let it melt.

orchid-96

There are some great recipes on here - wow justin1972uk, thanks for the detailed recipe, I will definitely try that one...I was also wondering about whether you cook the pasta or not, so glad that was mentioned as well.

i am going to print these all off to have a go at...

:beer:

recovering_spendaholic

It's not exactly pasta but for a REALLY quick to make and very substantial dinner I put a packet of bought Gnocchi in a baking dish (just straight out of the packet without boiling or cooking in any way first), then pour over a jar of Ragu or similar tomato sauce, a splash of cream (only if you've got it otherwise use milk) and top with grated mature cheese mixed with a bit of parmesan. Bake in a 180 oven for about half an hour and it is really really yummy - the gnocchi cook in the sauce and absorb some if it so the finished dish is not too saucy. I had it with chops and salad and even the kids loved it - mind you they didn't touch the salad but....

justin1972uk

orchid-96 wrote: »

There are some great recipes on here - wow justin1972uk, thanks for the detailed recipe, I will definitely try that one...I was also wondering about whether you cook the pasta or not, so glad that was mentioned as well.

Let me know how it went!

Pooky

I don't pre cook my pasta for pasta bakes - just make sure you make the sauce watery and keep a lid or foil over the dish for most of the cooking time - stir regularly and then remove foil/lid and add cheese/breadcrumbs/crushed crisps and cook until browned. It gives the pasta much more flavour IMO.

I must admit that I much prefer my pasta bakes cold for lunch the next day - there's just something scrummy about cold pasta.

Liney_2

A tip... for a nice crunchy topping on your pasta bake (if you don't have any breadcrumbs to hand) is to take a pack of ready salted crisps and scrunch them all up into little pieces and sprinkle them on top of your pasta bake and add grated cheese, then pop in the oven to bake - trust me it is utterly delicious.

Liney_2

Saw Tana Ramsey on TV yesterday making a pasta bake but she used spaghetti instead of lasagne sheets - she said it was lighter.

trying-very-trying

Thanks for the inspiration:beer:.
I've just been reading this thread, and decided to try it myself.
I've put 4 good sized frozen cod fillets, some frozen mixed veg, dry pasta in a casserole. Then I have added a jar of chicken tonight honey&mustard sauce and two jars of water and bunged it in the oven. I'm cautiously optimistic it'll turn out fine. I've also got an opened packet of tortIlla chips needing used up, so I'll mix them with the cheese for a crunchy topping. Thanks liney.

trying-very-trying

Result: sauce was just a little bit thin, but very tasty, and the nacho&cheese topping was well received. Garlic and coriander bread helped mop up the sauce. I just need to use a little less water next time.

trying-very-trying

Update: Hubby's just in and the sauce is lovely and thick, it just needed time to stand. The crispy topping isn't quite so crispy anymore, but still very tasty! Definitely will try a variation on this again.:cheesy: