Sunday teatime in my household presents something of a challenge: I like to have a home-cooked dinner for the family, but also enjoy watching the live football on Sky Sports’ Super Sunday. Especially so this week just gone, when the featured match is a big one, between Liverpool and Man United.
So I have developed a solution: Super Sunday Pasta Bake. All of the chopping and prep can be done in 15 minutes, at half-time. Then, when the final whistle is blown, it is just a case of throwing the ingredients together and into the oven. Twenty five minutes later, we have a Sunday dinner, and I haven’t missed any of the live action.
Granted, if you are a Man U fan, you may have wanted to slip out to the kitchen early on Sunday during the second half, to escape witnessing that 7 – 0 mauling by Liverpool.
Anyway, if you’re ready to pay attention, I’ll begin the tactics talk….
Servings
This will serve 4 people.
Timings
As indicated, 15 mins at half-time to prep, then 10 mins to combine at full time. The dish then goes in the oven for 15 mins to bake at 180C.
You Will Need
- 1 cauliflower
- 200g pasta penne
- olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 4 rashers streaky bacon
- 1 onion
- 5 – 6 mushrooms
- 1 green pepper
- 60g butter
- 75g plain flour
- 500ml semi-skimmed milk
- 100g mature cheddar cheese
Method
Half-Time
- Break the head of cauliflower into even-sized florets, and place in a bowl of water.
- Weigh out the penne and add to the bowl. Set aside.
- Chop the bacon, onion, pepper and mushrooms and place on a covered plate. Top and tail the garlic clove so it’s ready for crushing.
Full-Time
- Boil a kettle. Drain the cauli and penne, and place in a sauce pan covered in the boiling water. Bring to the boil again, then simmer for 10 mins.
- Switch on the oven at 180C. Lightly grease a baking dish with a swig of the oil.
- Put the rest of the oil in a wok or frying pan, and warm it on the hob. Add the crushed garlic clove, and when the oil sizzles, tip in the bacon and the veg.
- Melt the butter in the microwave, then stir in the flour to make a paste. Add in the milk, and return to the microwave on high for 2 mins. Keep checking it every 30 seconds or so to make sure it isn’t boiling over. It will soon begin to thicken, and should be lump-free.
- Stir the sauce with a hand whisk and give it further 30 second bursts as necessary in the microwave to thicken. Remove from the microwave, grate in all but a handful of the cheddar, and stir to combine.
- By this stage, the cauli and penne should have had 10 mins to simmer, and the bacon and veg softened in the pan. As if by magic, the oven should be coming up to temperature.
- Drain the cauli and penne and spread out in the baking dish. Spread the bacon and veg on top, then cover in the cheese sauce. Sprinkle the reserved handful of grated cheese over the top, and put into the oven for 15 mins.
- If you wish, go back for 15 mins and see what pundits, Jamie and Gary are making of the match just gone!
- It should then look like the photo below. Spoon into bowls, which should look like the picture at the top of this post.
Customise it!
Within the basic structure of the dish, there is lots of scope to play around with the ingredients. Vary up the veg by replacing the cauli with broccoli, and leek in place of the onion. Add more colour with a different pepper, or go vegetarian by adding chopped nuts in place of the bacon. Blue cheese will go well in the sauce.
More new music now for the ADK Playlist, courtesy of Leftfield. The massively influential dance band are back with a new album, This Is What We Do, which is definitely worth a listen. Here is one of my favourite tracks from it, Full Way Round.
A Different Kitchen 