Food

# Healthy pasta bake

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Preparation time

less than 30 mins

Cooking time

30 mins to 1 hour

Serves

Serves 4

Dietary

Vegetarian

A fuss-free and healthy pasta bake that you can make in one dish. It's packed with the flavours and colours of Mediterranean vegetables and topped with pine nuts for crunch.
Each serving provides 375 kcal, 12g protein, 27g carbohydrates (of which 11g sugars), 22g fat (of which 5g saturates), 8g fibre and 0.95g salt.

By Justine Pattison
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Preparation time

less than 30 mins

Cooking time

30 mins to 1 hour

Serves

Serves 4

Dietary

Vegetarian

## Ingredients

- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 red onion, roughly chopped
- 1 yellow or red pepper, deseeded and cut into roughly 1.5cm/⅝in chunks
- 1 courgette (approx. 225g/8oz), quartered lengthways and cut into roughly 1.5cm/⅝in chunks
- 1 small aubergine (approx. 250g/9oz), cut into roughly 1.5cm/⅝in chunks
- 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
- 4 tbsp sun-dried tomato or red pepper pesto
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 100g/3½oz wholewheat penne pasta
- 75g/2¾oz young spinach leaves, tough stalks removed
- 50g/1¾oz mature cheddar, grated
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- salt and freshly ground black pepper

Recipe tips

## Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180 Fan/Gas 6.

2. Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole. Add the onion, pepper, courgette and aubergine, season with a little salt and lots of pepper and fry over a medium heat for about 8 minutes, or until softened and lightly browned, stirring regularly. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, then stir in the pesto and cook for 1 minute more, stirring constantly.

3. Tip the tomatoes into the casserole, then fill the tomato tin with water and pour into the pan. Add the pasta and bring to a simmer, stirring regularly. Cover with a lid, or if you prefer tip into a baking dish and cover with foil, and bake for 20 minutes.

4. Take the casserole out of the oven and stir in the spinach, a handful at a time. Once all the spinach has been mixed in, sprinkle the cheese and pine nuts over the top. Return to the oven and cook, uncovered, for a further 10 minutes, until the pasta is tender.

### Recipe Tips

If you don’t have wholewheat penne, use another shape, such as fusilli. You can also use traditional pasta, but the overall fibre content won’t be quite as high.

The red pesto adds lots of flavour; green basil pesto also works well.

Healthy

New Year

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