I’m breaking my sweet Sundays and going savoury. I feel the need to share some of my standby Monday / Tuesday meals. On M/T I leave food in the fridge for Annabelle, our M/T nanny, to reheat for the Tsunamis’ dining pleasure. So it needs to not dry out, be safe to reheat and it needs to be food that they’ll eat without fussing. This pasta bake ticks all the boxes. It’s the only food Maxi-Taxi will eat that has ‘green bits’ in it and not spend hours sitting there picking out minute bits of vegetable that are not actually visible to the naked eye.
Broccoli, zucchini and bacon pasta bake
300g wholemeal pasta spirals
60g butter
1/4 cup wholemeal plain flour
450ml reduced-fat milk
1 reduced-salt chicken stock cube
2 tsp olive oil
4 short cut bacon rashers, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large head broccoli
2 grated zucchinis
1 1/2 cups grated tasty cheese
Wholemeal breadcrumbs
Butter
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Cook the pasta, drain.
Melt butter in a heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour. Cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until mixture is bubbling. Remove from heat. Slowly add milk, stirring until mixture is smooth. Return to heat. Melt the stock cube in a little boiling water and add to mixture. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes or until mixture comes to the boil. Add 1 cup cheese and stir through.
Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the bacon, onion and garlic and cook, until soft and lightly caramelised.
• Break the broccoli into small florets. Add grated zucchini. Cook in the microwave until soft. Use a fork to mash. Place in ovenproof dish.
Add pasta, bacon, onion, garlic, zucchini and broccoli and mix together. Pour the cheesy sauce over and mix well. Sprinkle ½ cup cheese on top. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over top and dot with small dobs of butter. Bake about 30 minutes until golden.
Enjoy!
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[Image by Louise Lister from Taste ; recipe my own]
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Rachel says
Now I am a savory girl so this is going in my list of new things to try for sure….
Little Ted Canvas says
That looks delicious, I think it’ll be on our menu this week, thanks! I just spotted your muesli slice, too, YUM!
Toni says
OMG my mouth is watering….
sara says
YUM! I want some right now…
Wanderlust says
Maxabella, you have the most incredible recipes. This looks delicious! I have to ask though, what is tasty cheese? Do you mean a specific type of cheese of just whatever we find tasty?!
Tenille says
That looks awesome Maxabella, I think I’ll be trying your recipe this week.
Rachael (Tales from the Village) says
Oh this makes me laugh. Not ‘Gorgeously Delicious Broccoli, Zucchini and Bacon Pasta Bake’, but ‘Acceptable’. That’s about as good as it gets round here, too.
Sounds yummy though – and we have loads of zucchini (or courgettes, as we call them over here in England) from the allotment, so I think we’ll have it for dinner tonight.
Gill@OurParklife says
yum! great recipe….i always welcome a little help in the kitchen! thanks
Deer Baby says
Laughing with Rachael above at the word ‘acceptable’ too. Must be the British sense of humour. You could publish a book of recipes called Acceptable. It would be quite a slim volume though in our house. My lot would pick out ‘the trees’ (broccoli).
Maxabella says
LOL, I’m glad you all picked up on the ‘acceptable’… you must also know what it’s like to feed a fussy eater!
Kristin, ‘tasty’ cheese is… um, cheddar, I think. But not as processed? I think…
Frog, Goose and Bear says
Just what I need! Thanks! I have just done my linky post on easy peasy dinners if you wanted to link up! 🙂
ZippyZippy says
Thanks for sharing – another new recipe to try for the littles!
Buttons by Lou Lou says
I love a good easy pasta. Children seem to love pasta – well so do I! Have you changed your header recently? Looks great. Lou.
alissa says
This sounds delicious! I’m adding it to my ever-growing list of pasta dishes I must make!
EmmaK says
This is nothing short of genius. This may be the one vegetable based dish my kids will try because it looks so yummy. I will try it later in the week. Thanks for rewinding.