Lou's Quick Weeknight Veggie Pasta Bake

The beauty of this dish is that you can basically put anything you want in it – whatever veggies you have languishing in your fridge. A bendy carrot; a suspicious courgette that may soon just be approaching the description of “slimy”. Give them a wipe and a clean, cut any dodgy bits off, and chuck them in. NOTE: if anything’s actually mouldy or smells bad, put it in your compost bin. Nobody wants a bad tummy the next day. I make this pasta as a bake almost once a week. It can be easily adjusted to be include meat, and in fact I have also made it with cut up pre-cooked sausages or turkey mince -- veggie mince would work equally well. My recipe here uses fresh tortellini, but I also make it with dry cupboard pasta (if you choose dry pasta, allow about 70g per person before cooking). I often (but not always) add a tub of mascarpone cheese (or sometimes a few spoons of Philadelphia), which gives it a lovely creamy texture. You could also try it with a couple of spoons of chilli pesto, which gives it a pleasant kick.

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Step 1

Heat your oven to about 200C (180C fan). Finely chop the onion and soften it in a splash of olive oil on a medium heat.

Step 2

If you’re including any mince, add it in now and break it up, sealing and browning it a little (turning up the heat if necessary).

Step 3

Add in the veg – peppers, courgette and carrot (and any others you might like!) – and give these a stir, cooking on a medium heat for a few minutes. Crush the garlic and stir this in too. Season and add a sprinkle of dried thyme.

Step 4

Add in the can of tomatoes and the mascarpone (if using) and stir it in until melted. Give it all a stir and if necessary top it up with a little hot water to cover. Cook for a few minutes until it has a nice consistency – you don’t want it to be too dry otherwise everything will dry up in the oven.

Step 5

Meanwhile, cook the pasta -- according to instructions but minus a minute or so, since it will cook more in the oven -- and drain. Wipe a little oil across a medium sized oven dish to prevent the bake from sticking, and pour in the pasta. Cover it with half the sauce and stir it together, and then cover with the rest of the sauce.

Step 6

You don’t have to, but it’s often nice for a bake to have a little bit of a crunchy topping. Top the pasta bake with the ground almonds (and breadcrumbs, if you are using them), parmesan and parsley, add a drizzle of olive oil, and cook in the middle of the oven for about 20-25 minutes until the top is golden and looks tasty. Serve with a lovely side salad and some buttery garlic bread.