Cheese & tomato pasta bakes

Cheese & tomato pasta bakes

This sort of family meal is well worth making in bulk so you can eat one now and freeze the rest for later

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 12

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 1 hr

Cook time

Cook 40 mins

Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large, wide pan or wok, then stir-fry the peppers for 5 mins. Add the chopped garlic and mushrooms, and cook for 5 mins more.
  2. Pour in the passata and stock, then stir in the oregano, olives and courgettes with plenty of black pepper. Leave to simmer, stirring frequently, for 10-15 mins until the vegetables are just tender and the sauce has reduced a little. Meanwhile, cook the pasta following pack instructions.
  3. To make the cheese sauce, pour the milk into a large pan and add the butter, flour, nutmeg and seasoning. Heat, stirring or whisking all the time until smooth and thickened. Stir in half the cheese and allow it to melt into the sauce.
  4. Drain the pasta and add to the tomato mixture. Pile into 2 or 3 baking dishes, pack down well, then pour over the cheese sauce (it helps to let the sauce cool and thicken a little before using so that it stays as a layer). Scatter with the remaining cheese and the bread.
  5. If eating now, bake at 200C/180C fan/ gas 6 for 40 mins until bubbling and golden. Serve with a salad.
Try

Just want to serve one portion?

Divide into individual portions and freeze as above. They need less time to cook from frozen, but make sure they're bubbling and hot before serving.

Freeze for another meal

To freeze, cool completely, top with baking parchment, then wrap in foil. Will freeze for up to 3 months. To serve, thaw for 5 hrs at room temperature, then cook at 200C/180C fan/gas 6 for 1 hr. To cook from frozen, heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and cook, covered with foil, for 2 hrs. Remove foil and cook, uncovered, for 45 mins, or until golden and hot through.

PER SERVING

551 kcalories, protein 21g, carbohydrate 60g, fat 27 g, saturated fat 13g, fibre 4g, sugar 14g, salt 1.96 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, July 2011.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • 17 September 2011

    Beth rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Very good pasta sauce. I've frozen the pasta sauce by itself rather than potting the pasta up as well.

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  • 24 March 2012

    jackster83 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I halved this recipe which worked well except that I made extra cheese sauce because not all the vegetables were covered.. The vegetables smelled great while they were cooking and the finished dish was delicious. Would definately make it again.

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  • 26 April 2012

    Cleaning Fairy rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Halved this recipe although made quite a lot of the cheese sauce. Added a teaspoon or so of fennel seeds to the vegetables which gave a lovely extra dimension. Will make again and again!

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 12

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 1 hr

Cook time

Cook 40 mins

Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 bag small mixed peppers (about 7 peppers), deseeded and cut into large chunks
  • 6 garlic cloves , chopped
  • 500g pack large button mushrooms , quartered
  • 1l carton passata
  • 450ml vegetable stock
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 290g jar pitted Kalamata olives , drained
  • 500g large courgettes , halved lengthways and thickly sliced
  • 500g pack dried penne

FOR THE CHEESE SAUCE & TOPPING

  • 1½ l 2¾ pints milk
  • 140g butter
  • 140g plain flour
  • ¼ whole nutmeg , finely grated
  • 300g mature cheddar , grated
  • 85g hunk old bread , torn into small pieces
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PER SERVING

551 kcalories, protein 21g, carbohydrate 60g, fat 27 g, saturated fat 13g, fibre 4g, sugar 14g, salt 1.96 g

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