Cheesy green pasta bake
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 4
Get your greens in with this vibrant pasta bake packed with herbs, broccoli and spinach. Cannellini beans give the sauce a lovely creamy texture as well as adding plant protein and fibre.
For this recipe you will need a blender or food processor.
Each serving provides 420 kcal, 24.4g protein, 35.5g carbohydrate (of which 3.9g sugars), 18.3g fat (of which 9g saturates), 6.7g fibre and 0.96g salt.
Ingredients
- 320g/11½oz short pasta, such as rigatoni, penne or conchiglie
- 150g/5½oz broccoli florets
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 100g/3½oz baby spinach
- 10g fresh basil, leaves picked
- 10g flat leaf parsley, leaves picked
- 400g tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 50g/1¾oz fresh Parmesan, finely grated, plus extra for the topping
- 75ml/2½fl oz milk, such as full-fat, semi-skimmed or soya
- 1 tsp lemon zest, plus extra to garnish
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp Dijon mustard
- 75g/2¾oz mozzarella, torn into pieces
- 50g/1¾oz mature cheddar or gruyère, grated
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- dried red chilli flakes, to garnish (optional)
Method
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and simmer for 2 minutes less than the packet instructions. Add the broccoli for the final 2 minutes of cooking. Reserve 250ml/9fl oz of the cooking water, then drain the pasta and broccoli and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large, wide ovenproof pan over a medium heat (or use a frying pan and a separate baking dish). Add the onion and cook for 5–6 minutes until soft. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the spinach and cook until just wilted.
Transfer the vegetables (including the broccoli) to a blender or food processor. Add the basil, parsley, cannellini beans, Parmesan, milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, mustard and 200ml/7fl oz of the reserved pasta water. Blend until smooth and bright green. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add a little more of the remaining pasta water if the sauce is too thick.
Toss the drained pasta through the green sauce until evenly coated (use the ovenproof pan used to cook the vegetables or a large baking dish). Scatter the mozzarella and cheddar on top, plus a little extra Parmesan if desired.
Place the pan under a hot grill for 10–15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and lightly golden. Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Add extra lemon zest and a pinch of chilli flakes, if using.
