Pasta Bakes… I’ve always been a little wary of them. My previous experiences of Pasta Bake, I’m ashamed to say come from readymade tinned versions from when I was a student. I think this is what has put me off them a little.  However, yesterday I was in the mood for a pasta dish that didn’t involve the usual tomato based sauce and tagliatelle.  I had some Coley leftover from earlier in the week and decided it would be a fish pasta bake. Even whilst cooking it I wasn’t entirely convinced that the end result would be anything worth eating, the ingredients I was using whilst tasty seemed a little bland, white fish in a white sauce with pasta… but it turned out that it was a really hearty and warming treat on a cold winter’s night. For my Seafood Pasta Bake you will need:

• Enough fish to cover the bottom of your baking dish cut into chunks
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp butter
• 500ml milk
• 100g cream cheese
• 250g pasta (penne/fusilli)
• 100g grated cheese
• ¼ jar sundried tomatoes (sliced)
• 8-10 pickled anchovies (cut in half)
• 1 small cabbage cut into florets
• 1 tbsp capers
• Seasoning

First off heat your oven to gas mark 5/190°C.  Once you’ve done that cover the bottom of your oven dish with the fish chunks.  Boil your pasta and about half way through add your cauliflower to the same pan (saves on washing up). At the same time in another pan make your white sauce using the flour and butter to make a roux and then the milk to make the sauce.  Once the sauce has thickened and the pasta has boiled, drain the pasta and pour the sauce into the pasta pot.  At this point throw in your tomatoes, capers, cream cheese and anchovies and a good amount of salt and pepper  and give it a good stir and then pour on top of your fish, sprinkle over the grated cheese and bake in the oven until bubbling and the cheese has gone golden. Sprinkle with some parsley and done! Pasta Bake.

PG