Recipe:Courgette & Broccoli Pasta Bake

In succession to previous entries of baked pasta and also baked rice. Here is a vegetarian variation which I prefer the most among the three. Simple concept to  make the veg loathers to have a second think.

Ingredients (Serve 4-5)

• 1 floret of broccoli
• 1 courgette
• Of course, more veg and meat is more than welcome. Such as spinach, cherry tomatoes, aubergine, cauliflower, sliced sausages…I’ll leave it to your imagination.
• 400 g of rigati (any hallow tubular pasta)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 shallot
• 1 white onion (optional)
• 2 pinches of chilli flakes or  paprika powder (optional)
• 1 small pot of white sauce (click here) OR a small tub of fresh cream OR tomato base sauce/puree
• 150 g of grated cheese (mature cheddar would be my favourite)
• 1 handful of Parmesan shavings

Now, to bring this bake together..

Preparation

1. Cut up the broccoli into bite size, trim the stalks into smaller strips.
2. For half of the courgette, thinly slice into about 2 cm strips OR grate it. Retain half of the courgette to slice them length wise thinly for toppings later on.
3. Chop up garlic and shallots (also onion if any), set aside.
4. Heat up some olive oil and 1 knob of butter. When the pan is hot, toss in chopped shallots, soften briefly. Followed by garlic to stir around until aromatic.
5. Add in the small courgette strips, soften them for a short while.
6. Followed by broccoli to stir around briefly. No need to soften as they will continue to be cooked in the oven later on.
7. Add in cooked pasta and mix evenly with the existing ingredients in the pot.
8. Now, gently lower the pot’s contents into a wide casserole dish and level off the top. Set aside.
9. Preheat the oven now at 190°C.
10. Then, prepare the white sauce or tomato base sauce (blended roasted tomatoes seasoned with salt & pepper OR dilute tomato puree with milk).
11. When the sauce is ready, pour it over the pasta and veg in the casserole dish. Try to have most of the dish smothered with sauce.
12. Top the dish off with courgette slices and grated cheese (optionally, include chilli flakes or paprika powder).
13. Bake the dish for about 30 minutes until the top is crispy and golden brown.
14. Serve it hot.