This is a post dedicated to my most favourite kind of pasta…the baked kind.
Whether it be baked sheets of lasagne, stuffed tubes of cannelloni or just good old rigatoni with some cheese on top, I love pasta best when it’s been baked with lots of cheese.
I have two offerings today. One was something VC knocked together one fine Sunday evening of late. We wanted lasagne, but it was too much trouble to make, and so I suggested a spaghetti Au gratin, but the kids don’t like spaghetti anymore and so we came up with bolognaise and penne pasta with bechamel sauce on top. Baked.
My second offering is a recipe that I have started making again lately. Tuna or salmon pasta bake is an old favourite from way back. It has a subtle, lemony sauce that goes so nicely with salmon or tuna. This dish is very economical to prepare and really nutritious as well!
Baked Penne Bolognaise
I won’t give a recipe for this one.
I think most of us can make bolognaise, and perhaps I’ll dedicate a post to my favourite version of the recipe, but today, we’ll just write down what’s involved.
Mix bolognaise meat sauce with cooked, ribbed penne pasta.
Top with cheese sauce (or bechamel) and bake in a moderate oven till it goes all brown and crispy on top….like this;
Salmon Pasta Bake Recipe
Ribbed penne pasta, cooked
White sauce made with;
-1 heaped tsp of mustard (seeded or dijon)
- some lemon juice or rind (about a tbl spn or two)
- a couple of shakes of tabasco
- lots of grated cheddar and Parmesan cheese
Into this sauce put a large tin of either tuna or salmon and some sliced shallots (about a cup).
As you can see in the photo below, I also throw in some peas. Always trying to ‘veg’ it up for the boys.
Mix it all together, top with some grated cheese and put it in a moderate oven till it’s all brown and bubbly on top.
Notes on the Recipe
In particular for the salmon bake…I haven’t given definite amounts because you can add or subtract to your taste. You might prefer it heavy on the mustard, so put some more in….or perhaps you don’t like it so cheesy, in which case add the cheese bit by bit till it tastes good.
Recently I added lemon rind because I didn’t have any lemon juice. I have some rind in the freezer from when my friend bought over 4 tonnes of lemons….ah the great lemon juicing jamboree of 2009…and so I threw in some rind instead of juice. It turned out really nice, very subtle and less tangy or tart than juice. So it’s something to try.
Obviously you could throw in some veges if you have the time. Pureed would go in unnoticed by children, or you could grate in some zucchini and carrot, but peas did go really nicely with the dish.
