Tomato Based Pasta Bake

funkey_monkey

Hi,

I've got a recipe for a Pasta bake which requires usage of Ham, double cream and lots of cheese.

It makes a white saucse to which mustard powder is added - so basically this dish is a creamy pasta, cheese and ham bake.

My problem is that I don't like creamy dishes, nor do I like ham. I'm a Vegan of sorts. How can I modify the recipe to siwtch in a tomato based sauce, switch out the ham, and decrease cheese uage?

The recipe is:

Butterb50g
Plain Flour 25g
Mustard Powder 1tbsp
Milk 450ml
Cheddar 125g
Double Cream 142ml
Sliced Ham 125g
Nutmeg
Penne Pasta
Spinach 150g
Parmesan 25g

1. Melt butter in pan, stir in flour and cook for a few minutes.
2. Add mustard powder and milk. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat and gradually beat the in the cheddar, ham and then season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
3. Cook pasta. Wilt spinich in a knob of butter in a hot pan.
4. Add all together in a dish. Cover with Parmesan and put in oven for ~50min.

So, how I can I make this a tomato based dish?
What could I replace the ham with?
How can I reduce cheese for topping?

This is for a cookery course I am attending, so I want to cook as much from scratch, so a tin of Ragu is not what I want!


Many thanks,

Minder

Tomato based pasta bake.

Warm some olive oil in a pan and add either whole cloves of garlic of chopped garlic (to taste). Blitz two tins of tomatoes and add those when the garlic is fragrant. Add a tablespoon of sugar, some salt and pepper and a large tied bunch of basil. Cook the sauce for 15 to 20 minutes on a medium heat. Cook the pasta of choice - we use penne. When al dente, drain and stir through enough sauce to coat the pasta well. It doesn't want to be sitting in a soup, but it needs a good covering. Add to a baking dish. We usually mix through some dice of mozzerella, halved cherry tomatoes and pile with grated parmasan. You can leave out the mozzerella amd use a half parmasan half breadcrumb topping. Bake for about 15 minutes until it looks golden or the pasta is picking up colour on the edges.

funkey_monkey

thanks. What veg can i add to it to bulk it out? Spinach, what else?

Minder

You can add cooked aubergine and roast, skinned peppers. Or leave out the cherry tomatoes and add broadbeans, peas and french beans for a primavera style bake.

funkey_monkey

Minder,

Would be able to post a link to where you got that recipe? I need to get the amounts to take to my class.


Thanks,