This recipe forms part of the August 18 meal planner created in partnership with New World. The pasta and white sauce can be made in advance and stored in separate containers (see How to make white sauce) in the fridge, making the dish quick to pull together and bake later in the week. Alternatively make the dish to step 4 and store covered in the fridge for up to 2 days before adding breadcrumbs and baking.
White sauce
| 3 cups | Milk |
| 50 g | Butter |
| ¼ cup | Flour |
Pasta bake
| 2 cups | Short pasta, such as penne, macaroni, farfalle |
| 2 Tbsp | Olive oil |
| 1 | Onion, finely chopped |
| 3 cloves | Garlic, crushed to a paste with 1 tsp salt |
| 1 small bunch | Coriander, or parsley, leaves removed and chopped and stems finely chopped |
| 1 small bunch | Cavolo nero, leaves removed and shredded, stems finely chopped |
| 1 | Red capsicum, or yellow, thinly sliced |
| 1 stalk | Celery, including leaves, thinly sliced |
| 1 | Courgette, thinly sliced |
| 1 small | Smoked fish, bones removed and flaked into pieces (approx. 2 cups) |
| ⅓ cup | Cream, up to 1/2 cup |
| 1 | Lemon, juice of |
| 1 small handful | Dill, chopped |
| 1 small handful | Chives, chopped |
| 1 cup | Breadcrumb mix, see recipe below, or use store-bought |
Directions
- For the white sauce, heat milk until just scalded. Melt butter in a saucepan, add flour and stir continuously for 3 minutes to cook. Whisk in the hot milk in stages, whisking until smooth each time, then use a wooden spoon to stir and simmer the sauce 5-7 minutes until it resembles thick cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper or mustard powder and remove from heat to cool.
- Cook pasta in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain well, cool and toss with a splash of olive oil.
- Heat oil in a frying pan, add onion, garlic, coriander and cavolo nero stems and fry gently until soft. Add capsicum, celery and courgette and continue to fry until vegetables have just softened. Remove from heat, mix through cavolo nero and coriander leaves and season with freshly ground black pepper. Cool.
- In a large bowl combine cooked pasta, smoked fish, white sauce, vege mix, cream, lemon juice and chopped herbs. Spread into a baking dish or individual dishes.
- Sprinkle with the breadcrumb mix (below) and bake in a 180C oven until golden and bubbling. Serve with a side salad.
Breadcrumb mix
Slice half a loaf of stale bread evenly and bake in a hot oven until golden. Cool, then blitz into a chunky crumb. Combine with the zest of 1/2 lemon, 1 Tbsp sesame and 1 Tbsp poppy seeds, a little fresh pepper and 1 cup grated cheese. Store in an airtight container. Use to crumb pork chops, chicken schnitzel, polenta chips, fish cakes etc.
This recipe forms part of the August 18meal plannercreated in partnership with New World.