Penne Pasta Bake with tomato and béchamel sauce

We had been having some spicy Indian meals lately so I decided that today we would make quick and easy pasta bake with tomato and white sauce. I have recipes in my blog for spicy pasta and simple penne pasta bake with tomato sauce but not with bechamel sauce. My apologies for missing out some pictures as I thought that this recipe was already in my blog and didn't take the step by step pictures. 

Ingredients to serve 4 people 

300 gram of Penne or Fusilli Pasta
500mls of Passata ( you can use tinned tomatoes but will need more as the sauce will not be as thick as Passata)
7-8 cloves of fresh garlic
1 onion
2 green chillies
1 teaspoon
salt for the pasta sauce and one for the pasta.
Pepper to taste
2-3 cups of grated cheddar and mozarella cheese
1 teaspoon of oregano
sliced tomatoes for garnishing

For the béchamel sauce

1/3 cup plain white flour
1 teaspoon nutmeg
500mls milk at room temperature
2 tablespoons of butter

Method:

1. Add cold water, 1 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons oil in a saucepan. Once the water boils, add the pasta. The water should cover the pasta completely.

2. Make for the red sauce: 

a. Blend the passata, onions and garlic and heat the sauce.

b. Add the salt and pepper.

c. Once heated, let it simmer gently.

d. This basic sauce can be made ahead and frozen too to use anytime you cook pasta or spaghetti. If you like hot and spicy pasta, you can add fresh green chillies to the sauce. You can also add some vegetables to the sauce if you wish to.

3. Now prepare the béchamel sauce:

a. Heat the butter until it melts.

b. Now make the roux (rue) by adding the plain flour to the melted butter. Keep stirring the mixture constantly for about 5 minutes over low heat. The flour needs to be cooked well to get a good sauce.

c. Add in the milk (which should be at room temperature) slowly, turn the heat to medium and continue to stir the sauce until it begins to thicken. Now add in the nutmeg.

d. Your béchamel sauce is ready so switch off the heat.

4. Once the pasta has cooked, drain it and spread it an oven proof dish.

5. Spread the red sauce over the the pasta.

6. Spread the béchamel sauce over the red sauce.

7. Sprinkle some grated cheese on the white sauce.

8. Garnish with oregano, black pepper and sliced tomatoes

9.  Cook in the oven at 170 degrees for 20 minutes or until the top goes golden brown,

10.  Serve it hot.

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Spicy Pasta

This is a quick and easy pasta recipe - really handy for those days when you are hungry and don't want to spend too long preparing food.  This one is also a favourite with children.

To make cooking easier - I tend to use American cup measurements .  It makes cooking a lot easier as you don't have to weigh the ingredients. In the case of this recipe, you can estimate a lot of the ingredients and make it to your taste.

Ingredients for 2 Servings
Time 30 minutes

2 cups of  pasta  (you can use penne or Fusilli Pasta)
1 cup any mixed vegetables
2 cups passata (Passata made from ripe tomatoes that have been puréed and sieved to remove the skin and seeds and is available in all supermarkets)
2-3 cloves of garlic - use a garlic press and blend the garlic
4-5 spring onions - finely chopped 1 small finely chopped sweet chile pepper or jalepeno
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon coriander and cumin powder (dhana jeeru)
½ teaspoon pepper
2 -3 teaspoons olive oil
½ teaspoon oregano

Method: 

1 Cook the pasta and mixed vegetables together by boiling them in hot water with some ½ teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon olive oil.

2. Once cooked, drain off the water.

3. Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil in  a frying pan.  When the oil gets hot, add in the chopped spring onions,  chopped pepper or jalepeno and garlic. 

4.  Add the salt, pepper, turmeric, cumin and coriander powder (dhana jeeru) and stir well.

5. Add the cooked pasta and vegetables and stir again.

6.  Add the pasatta, stir well  and cook the pasta for 5 minutes.  

7. Sprinkle some oregano and serve hot with a salad.

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Cappellacci Pasta with tomato sauce and boiled vegetables.

Cappellacci is pasta made from durum wheat flour in a shape that reminds you of a well worn sunhat. This pasta swells considerably with cooking and tastes great with a spicy tomato sauce. I love this dish as it is such a healthy dish and such a favourite with my son. I tend to make pasta, pasta sauce and boiled vegetables all separately to enable everyone in the family to add whatever they like to their pasta


Ingredients for 4 servings:

3 cups Cappellacci Pasta
6-8 cups of blended tinned tomatoes or smooth Passata sauce
2 tablespoons Olive oil
2-3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon oregano
3-4 cloves of blended garlic
1 teaspoon of blended ginger
1 medium onion
2-3 fresh green chillies
3 bowls of any boiled vegetables (we chose cauliflower, baby carrots, peas and green string beans)
2-3 bowls of gratted cheddar cheese
Plus any condiments you like such black pepper, crushed red chillies etc…


Method:

The timing of this is important as you don’t want to overcook your pasta:

1. Take one tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan and heat it.

2. Add the salt, garlic, ginger to the tomato sauce and add it to the oil once it’s heated up.

3. Allow this tomato sauce to simmer away. Once cooked, add the oregano to it before serving. (For those of you who like hot and spicy food, you can add chilly powder or green chillies to the sauce when it is simmering.)

4. In a separate saucepan, add one teaspoon of salt to a litre of water and boil your vegetables until cooked.

5. Boil a litre of water in a large saucepan and add teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to it.

6. Add the cappellacci pasta to it and cook it according to the instructions on the packet. Mine asked for it to be cooked for 5-7 minutes.

7. Chop the tomatoes and green chillies finely.

8. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and get ready to serve it.

9. Drain the bolied vegetables too.

10. Pour the tomato sauce over the pasta, serve the vegetables separately or on top of the tomato sauce topped with onions, green chillies and grated cheese plus any condiments you enjoy..

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Mixed Vegetable and Pasta chunky soup

Do you have any dish that you enjoy russtling up for a quick snack but not sure what to call it?   Well, I have the same problem with this dish.   Do I call it just pasta with mixed vegetables or Pasta soup with vegetables??   I decided to call it vegetable and pasta chunky soup as  I usually serve it for lunch with toasted french bread.  This is a very tasty, easy, simple and  filling recipe. It's a great dish  and you can have for lunch or dinner in the cold weather. It's also a very healthy dish as it has loads of vegetables and no OIL.

You can make adjustments to the ingredients to suit your taste.

INGREDIENTS

200 grams or one Cereal bowl of pasta. I used linguine but you can use spagetti or any pasta.
200 grams or a cereal bowl of any vegetables. I used a mixture of carrots,peppers, peas, sweetcorn, brocolli and a small onion.
2 cups of tinned tomatoes (You can use fresh tomatoes or passata as well)
salt and pepper to taste.
1 teaspoon grated ginger,
2-3 cloves of grated garlic
finely chopped fresh green chillies (optional to your taste)
2 tablespoons of tomato puri
1 tablespoon of lemon (optional)
1 tablespoon of jaggery (only use if you use lemon)

METHOD

1.   Put some water to boil in a large saucepan for the Linguini.

2.  Whilst you are waiting for that,  mash and  transfer the tomatoes to  another saucepan to heat.

3.  Add the mixed vegetables and all the spices and herbs to the tomatoes.

4.  Add one cup of water to the vegetables and allow the mixture to simmer.

5.  Cut the linguini into very small pieces and add to the boiling water.

6.  Cook for 8 minutes or until the linguini is cooked.

7.  Drain the linguini.

8. Add the pasta to the vegetables which should now be cooked.

9. Allow this mixture to cook for 2 or 3 minutes.

10.  Serve it hot with toasted French bread.

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