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Creamy tomato and beef pasta Bake

Oven cooking is really convenient for me. I always encourage moms and caregivers to have a great relationship with their ovens.
Pasta bake allows you to throw in all the right classes of food to create a balanced diet for the children and the family.
It typically consists of pasta ,tomato sauce or a white sauce,vegetables(carrots,sweet corn,mushrooms,broccoli, cauliflower,bell peppers and much more),protein(tuna,beef,turkey,chicken),dairy (optional) not everyone likes to eat cheese or milk,a creamy vegetable like  smoothly blended avocados or legumes like chickpeas can make pasta creamy if you don't want cheese.

 For this recipe, i mixed macaroni and spaghetti just because while the macaroni was in the pot, I sensed my children would eat more than usual so i checked the pantry for more macaroni and found spaghetti instead and thought why not?they are all pasta,with different shapes.

 Ingredients

  • Macaroni (2 packets)                                                                 
  • Tomato paste,a small sachet, about 2 tablespoons
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • Garlic,ginger crushed
  • 1 cup of milk
  • Turmeric,salt,black pepper,fresh rosemary (you can use dried one or a dash of italian herbs is fine)
  • 6 tomato and 2red bell peppers,ground and steamed to reduce the water
  • cheese
  • A tablespoon of mayonnaise
  • Mushrooms( substitute with other vegetables)
  • Oil and a tablespoon of butter
  • Cooked beef in chunks or minced meat
In a pan add some oil, butter,onions ,ginger garlic, mushrooms,steamed tomato and pepper paste,all the herbs and seasoning, then you can add your cooked minced meat and veggies .Add a cup of milk and the mayonnaise.Allow to simmer just 3-5 minutes(everything will eventually cook off in the oven)

Cook your pasta till al-dente(fairly hard when you bite it) because everything will eventually bake off in the oven creating a perfect texture,so you don't want to overcook your pasta,its just to 'start off' the cooking. The idea is not to spend much time on the stove top cooking ,everything eventually cooks in the oven. there are some pasta that have instructions that the pasta does not have to be precooked before going in the oven so it would be nice to check.

In a casserole or baking dish, laddle in a spoon of the tomato sauce and rub it in as the base pour the pasta and tomato sauce together and mix it, and pour into the casserole dish. Top with cheese and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees centigrade for 25 minutes till cheese is bubbly and brown. you can choose to make layers by pouring in the pasta, layer with cheese,more pasta and more cheese,its totally optional). 

Bon apetit!




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