This pasta bake is so delicious, comforting and so easy to prepare! It is full of flavour and goodness and the best thing you you don’t have to do pretty much anything except of putting all the veggies in the oven and half an hour later you will get the most amazing veggie bake that works so good as a pasta sauce but it is great even on its own as well and make kick-ass side dish!
I used brown rice pasta to make this dish gluten-free but of course, any pasta would work or beans would be a great alternative. It freezes well and I love making extra and enjoying through the week as the veggies sauce tastes even better the next day and to make the top crunchy again, you can just place it under the grill for a couple of minutes when you ready to eat!
And lastly if you can use sun-dried tomato paste instead of regular and fresh basil leaves please do! It makes all the difference but otherwise of course work with what you got, cooking is all about experimenting and having fun with it!
- 200 grams of your favourite pasta
- 1 aubergine
- 1 courgette
- 1/2 an onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 can of chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp of tomato or sundried tomato pasta
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp of Italian herbs
- 2 tbsp of nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp of salt or to taste
- tbsp bunch of fresh basil leaves or 1of dried basil
- black pepper
- Finely chop onion and garlic and add them in the ovenproof dish along with sliced aubergine and courgette, can of chopped tomatoes, herbs and nutritional yeast
- Fill the empty can with water and dissolve 2 tbsp of sundried(or regular) tomato paste
- Pour it over the veggies and finish with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper
- Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes at 180 degrees celsius or till veggies are completely soft, give it a stir halfway through
- Towards the end of baking boil the salted water and cook your pasta al dante(usually a minute less than you would normally cook it for)
- Drain most of the water reserving some for the sauce
- Remove your veggie dish from the oven and add your pasta in and as much reserved cooking water as needed to get the sauce to your desired consistency(for me it was about 3 tbsps).
- Give it a stir so most of the pasta is submerged in the sauce
- Sprinkle with extra nutritional yeast if desired and optionally sprinkle with chopped walnuts
- Return to the oven and cook under the grill for about 5 minutes or till the top looks golden
- Scatter more fresh basil leaves before the serving if desired.
