This easy to make pasta bake is flavoured with roasted garlic, thyme and sage too but you could easily swap the herbs out for what you have on hand. In these times subbing ingredients is something it’s helpful to get confident with. With that in mind, most of this post is about what else you can sub for the listed ingredients. Please feel free to comment with any questions:) I usually use a mixture of cheeses in this too, just the ends of what’s on hand. You want a mixture of sharp and bitey and melty but if a mixture isn’t possible a sharp cheddar will work too.

I’ve been making my own veggie stock and will save a story of me doing a parmesan one to my Instagram, it’s a simple thing to leave to simmer if you’re working from home and takes as much active cooking time as making a cup of tea. To make it you use parmesan rind to give that deep rich flavour chicken bones do to a chicken stock.

I make the cheesy bechamel like sauce for this pasta bake using half stock to keep things from being overwhelmingly rich. The cheesiness goes so well with the roasted vegetables and the acid from the cherry tomatoes cuts through everything perfectly.

On the cherry tomatoes note, you could use mini tomatoes or just 1/4 any full sized tomatoes. I add them to the roasting dish later than the rest of the vegetable so they are just blistered rather than completely collapsing. This way you still get a little acid from them in the final dish.

You can use butternut pumpkin (or butternut squash in other parts of the world) or any pumpkin you have on hand. The point of this pasta bake is to use long life vegetables, things that will last in your fridge for a week or two. I made it twice in 2 weeks by leaving 1/2 the pumpkin and 1/2 the cauliflower in the fridge for the following week and they were still good to use. As you’re roasting them it doesn’t matter if the cauliflower has lost some of it’s firmness.

Sage and thyme also keep well so that’s why they’re my choice in herb. If you can’t get fresh tomatoes use a can of cherry tomatoes and drain them (keep the sauce to add to a pasta) and just stir them though with the pasta.

I’ve used giant pasta shells because I love that it makes this a little like stuffed pasta, the shells get filled with sauce and vegetables and the curves get all crispy when you bake it. But use any short pasta you have on hand.

You can freeze any leftovers too, it’s actually even better reheated!

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 kg butternut pumpkin/squash (should be half a pumpkin)

1/2 Cauliflower

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, skin on

1 Tbs dried thyme (oregano or rosemary would also work)

3 Tbs chopped fresh sage

250g cherry tomatoes

500g pasta (giant shells)

4 loosely packed cups of baby spinach

1/3 cup finely chopped spring onion (optional)

Sauce

3 Tbs flour

3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1.5 cups milk

1.5 cups vegetable stock

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 tsp dijon mustard

cracked black pepper to taste

1.5 cups (loosely packed) grated cheese (I used parmesan, gouda and cheddar)

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Remove seeds and skin from pumpkin and chop into bite sized (3cm approx) pieces, divide cauliflower into bite sized florets and chop up stalk into the the same size. Spread evenly in a large roasting dish, sprinkle over thyme, drizzle in oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes and then add tomatoes and 1/2 the sage, toss and roast for a further 20 minutes. The vegetables should be crispy and golden and the tomatoes just blistering.

Meanwhile cook pasta according to packet directions and drain.

Make sauce: Place a medium pot on medium high heat, once hot add the oil and flower and whisk to combine. Cook for a miute or two and then add the stock and milk, slowly whisking as you add to make sure your sauce stays smooth rather than lumpy. Bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes then whisk in the mustards and the cheese, taste and season with pepper to your tastes. Set aside.

Once veggies are roasted remove from the oven and add pasta, spring onion (if using) and spinach to the roasting dish, cover in the sauce and fold everything together gently to combine, try to make sure some of the giant shells fill with vegetable and sauce if you can. Spread the pasta mix evenly in the roasting dish then wipe a damp cloth around the side to remove any smeared sauce (will make cleaning the dish easier later). Sprinkle with remaining sage, drizzle the sage with olive oil and place back in the oven for 20 minutes or until just starting to colour.

Serve with a crisp green salad if thats something you have on hand!

HH. x