Pasta Bake

jamieh

Hi all,

I'm cooking for my better half 2moro night and I'm contemplating pasta bake (mainly because it sounds easy and tasty!!)

Does anyone have any good recipes? There's so many online I don't know which one to go for!

What should I serve it with....garlic bread, salad, etc?

Any particular wine that would go with it?

psycho-hope

Hey Jamieh, i normally make a pasta bake using pasta, chicken, what ever veg is in the house and a tin of the campells condesened soup eithe chicken or mushroom. I brown the chicken first and cook the pasta for a few mins then throw it all together in a cassarole dish pour the soup over the top. cook for about 20-25 mins then sprinkle some cheese over the top and cook for another 5 to 10 mins till the cheese is melted and bubbling

hope that helps

jamieh

psycho-hope wrote: »

Hey Jamieh, i normally make a pasta bake using pasta, chicken, what ever veg is in the house and a tin of the campells condesened soup eithe chicken or mushroom. I brown the chicken first and cook the pasta for a few mins then throw it all together in a cassarole dish pour the soup over the top. cook for about 20-25 mins then sprinkle some cheese over the top and cook for another 5 to 10 mins till the cheese is melted and bubbling

hope that helps

Thanks for the reply dude. I might give it a go.

I found this recipe...sounds good too: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-and-pizza/chicken-and-mushroom-pasta-bake-spaghett

Kurumba

I make this one:

Fry off some herby meatballs and chorizo sausage
Make a simple tomato sauce
In the meantime boil up some pasta
Put meatballs and chorizo and pasta in a baking dish,pour in the tomato sauce and layer with Mozzarella and some basil leaves, salt and pepper etc.
Then put in the oven until the cheese has melted.

It's really lovely and i serve it with garlic bread sometimes or else homemade oven chips.

olaola

Saw this on Market Kitchen last night - looked yum

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/610938

antoniosicily

tomato sauce with some meatballs, chicken and anchovies, add a little bit of cream and then add this to the pasta cooked in salted water, some spices (nutmeg, basil, parsley) and I'd also add a little bit of curry and cinnamon.
Put everything in a tray and add some cheese (parmesan and mozzarella), and then in the oven for 30 minutes, when the pasta will be really 'soft'.

Then remove the tray from the oven and THROW EVERYTHING OUT THE WINDOW.

Now you're ready to learn.

Pasta, we want a good pasta, something which will remain tough even if it is overcooked (but we don't want to overcook, don't we?). Try the shops closest to your home, I'd avoid Roma, Napoli and the other ****, probably Tesco could be good if it is managed well. If you're looking for some italian brands I'd suggest voiello, agnesi, divella. Barilla is a no-no.

Which type? we want something which we can overcook a little bit, we don't want our pasta to become glue, penne is one of the best choice, good cooking time, no spaghetti, no other things, probably farfalle, but it's too hard. Maccheroni is also good but it's difficult to find this type of pasta here.

So we have our good pack of penne, we want normal penne, not quick cook shi*
Put it in the cupboard.

Now, big pan, heat the pan, add oil and wait a little bit, until the oil is heated. Add a little bit of soffritto (celery, carrot and onions minced, all in equal parts), let this cook at a low heat for 10 minutes, until the onions are soft, then add the meat (minced meat), rise the heat and let it cook for a little bit (5) minutes, when it's brown we will add some red wine, high heat, let the wine evaporate, we want its flavour, not its acidity. Add the tomato sauce from the cans, it has to be only tomato sauce, nothing in garlic or herbs or anything, from this sauce we want to taste ONLY tomato and meat, these are the primary flavours, nothing strong shoudl be added. Add sugar and salt, let it cook for 1.5 hours or 2 hours.

Then cook the pasta in salted water, if the cooking time is 10 minutes you will cook the pasta for 5 or 6 minutes, nothing more, if it's 14 minutes you wil cook for 7-8 minutes, and so on. Drain it, move everything in a tray (cold, not hot), add the sauce and mix everything. Add a little bit of a cheese which is not too strong, not fresh mozzarella because it's too watery, probably some cheedar could do the trick. Remember, no strong flavours. Put everything into the oven for 10-15 minutes, 180C, the cheese will do a crust.

Remove it from the oven and serve, enjoy it :-)

Dockfive

What's wrong with Barilla? It was previously recommended to me by an Italian and I have always used it since and really like it.

Anyway, where can you get good Italian pasta in Ireland? Just had Roma pasta tonight and it's sh*te.

I'm in Galway so any suggestions relevant to Galway would be appreciated.

antoniosicily

Dockfive wrote: »

What's wrong with Barilla? It was previously recommended to me by an Italian and I have always used it since and really like it.

Anyway, where can you get good Italian pasta in Ireland? Just had Roma pasta tonight and it's sh*te.

I'm in Galway so any suggestions relevant to Galway would be appreciated.

the fact that many Italians like Barilla only means that they have no idea of what is a good pasta, they like Barilla because is a "traditional" pasta and they were bombed with advertising on TV since they are young.

Warning: I'm not talking of tastes here, tastes are personal, I'm talking of quality, in terms of quality of the wheat and the manifacturing process, barilla is one of the worst pasta in the italian market.

The brand I've suggested are *far* better, even the tesco Brand is better than barilla!!

Serafijn

I personally like the Bunalun wholewheat fusilli. They're really nice tight spirals and have an amazing texture. Not sure how they'd work in a pasta bake but I love them with more or less anything else