Penne pasta with bechamel, broccoli and peas recipe

Left over béchamel sauce and some broccoli in the bottom of the fridge, throw it in a pan with some other stuff, quick food!

Ingredients – Serves 4

300g whole wheat penne pasta

680ml of béchamel sauce

1 head of broccoli, washed and cut into bite size chunks

A hand full of frozen peas

Freshly ground black pepper

As much vegetarian Parmesan cheese as you have to hand, grated

Method

Steam the broccoli for about 20 minutes.

Whilst that’s going on, pour some boiling water in to a large pan and add the pasta, cook for around 12 minutes or until it’s done!

Drain the pasta and add it back to the empty pan.

Add the béchamel sauce and heat through.

Throw in a hand full of frozen peas and cook for a few minutes.

Twist in some black pepper.

Add the Parmesan and broccoli and stir in gently.

Serve up!

Spinach, Sweet Red Pepper and Ricotta Lasagne recipe

Another recipe shamelessly stolen from The Waiting Room but changed slightly, serve it with sesame potatoes and some garlic bread to wipe the plate.

Ingredients – Makes enough for 6

Olive oil

4 sweet pointed red peppers, deseeded and cut into large chunks

3 red onions, sliced

1 large onion, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

250ml of vegetable stock

500g organic spinach

250g ricotta cheese

Dried egg pasta sheets, I used 15

300ml of good bechamel sauce, make your own if you want!

300g of vegetarian mature cheddar cheese, grated

Freshly grated nutmeg, don’t use ready ground

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C, slightly lower for a fan assisted oven.

Add a little olive oil to a large roasting tray and place in the oven for a few minutes.

Place the chunks of red pepper and all the red onion in the roasting tray, turn the veg to cover in the hot oil and place in the oven for around an hour, turning every 15 minutes or so. Keep an eye on it in case it starts to burn.

Remove the roasted red pepper and onions from the oven and set to one side.

In a large pan, gently fry the onion in a little olive oil for about 10 minutes then add the minced garlic.

Stir and fry for a few minutes until the onion is soft but not brown.

Add the vegetable stock and the spinach, stir until the spinach has wilted.

Add the red pepper and onions to the spinach mix along with the ricotta and give it all a good stir.

Add half the cheese to the bechamel sauce and stir to combine.

Layer the mix in a deep oven dish alternating between that and the pasta sheets, I did three layers ending on a layer of pasta.

Pour the bechamel and cheese mixture on top of the pasta and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the sauce.

Grate as much nutmeg over the cheese as you like!

Bake in the oven for about an hour, make sure the pasta doesn’t burn but the cheese goes brown and gooey!