Vegetable Pasta Bake is what you make when you want to load up on veggies with something that’s filling, comforting and meet free. Enjoy it with family and friends.
Author: Nectaria
Servings: 8 people
INGREDIENTS
For the vegetable pasta gratin
500 gr. / 17.63 oz. vegetable penne pasta
100 gr. / 3.53 oz. olive oil
2 mediums zucchini, chopped
2 mediums carrots, chopped
3 medium leek only white part, chopped
300 gr./ 10.58 oz. variety of mushrooms, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ dried spearmint
1 tablespoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
For the creamy sauce
500 gr/ 17.63 oz. milk
800 gr/ 28.21 oz. light cream
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 4 tablespoons cold milk
For assembly the gratin
500 gr/ 17.63 oz. cheese mix, grated
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
INSTRUCTIONS
To make the vegetable pasta gratin
Heat a dip pan over medium high heat and stir fry all the vegetable separately by using 1½ tablespoon of olive oil for every kind of vegetable. Stir fry them until there are no more hard but not very tender either. Place all the vegetables in a large bowl season with salt and pepper and add the dried herbs and the garlic powder. Mix well and set aside.
Boil a large pan of water and cook the pasta for half the time than recommended on the pack. Drain and mix the pasta with the vegetables.
To make the creamy sauce
Mix all the creamy sauce ingredients to a medium size sauce pan bring to boil. Set aside.
To assembly the vegetarian pasta gratin
Preheat your oven to 350 ℉/ 180 ℃
In a deep 14×11-inch /36×29 cm oval baking pan or a 9×13-inch/25×35 cm baking pan, arrange 1/3 of vegetable-pasta mixture. Sprinkle with 1/3 of grated cheese mix. Pour 1/3 of creamy sauce mixture over the pasta and vegetables. Repeat again and end with a final layer of cream sauce and grated cheese mix.
Sprinkle with sweet paprika and bake 40 minutes, or until golden on top.