Nothing beats a good pasta bake. The golden crust, bubbling sauce and delicious combination of ingredients deliver a tasty and visually attractive combination. A meal like this one should be served with some fresh, crusty bread to mop up all that gorgeous cheesy sauce. Whether you are making this recipe to use up leftover cooked turkey or you simply love the sound of it, this bake is a taste sensation. The best thing is that you can make the bake fresh for today or assemble it and freeze it to be baked on another day. It’s also versatile in that you can substitute any vegetables and use any type of cooked pasta and you can use any sized dish – one large bake or a couple of small ones.
Turkey Pasta Bake
Ingredients (Serves 4)
- 1 cup (230 g) chopped, cooked turkey
- 3 cup (450 g) finely chopped vegetables of your choice
- 4 cups (460 g) cooked pasta of your choice
- 1 cup (90 g) grated tasty cheese
- 100g (4 oz) butter
- 4 heaped Tbsp. plain flour
- 5 cups (1.2 L/1 quart) milk (low fat or full cream)
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 180C/355F.
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan.
- Add the flour and stir well for 1 minute on a medium heat.
- Gradually add the milk 1 cup at a time, constantly stirring the mixture with a good whisk (a plastic one if you have a non-stick saucepan – the whisk will get rid of lumps more easily than a wooden spoon).
- Continue adding all the milk and stirring until the mixture has thickened to the consistency of thick custard. (Turn up the heat if your mixture is not thickening after 5 minutes).
- Add the vegetables, turkey, pasta and half the cheese and stir all ingredients to combine.
- Transfer the mix to a large baking dish (or a few smaller ones if you are planning to freeze some for another day.
- Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top.
- Bake for around 35-45 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and the top is golden.
- Serve with crusty bread and an Easy Green Side Salad
Cooking tips
- At step 5, you can stir in 1 teaspoon of curry powder to give the dish a gorgeous mild curry flavor.
- You can freeze the bake after step 8. Wrap it well with cling wrap or foil and label the top with the date. This bake is best used within 3 months.
- A good plastic whisk such as this Oxo Balloon Whisk is great for making sauces such as béchamel sauces where continual stirring is required.
- If you find the top is browning too quickly, cover it with foil and bake for the remainder of the time.
If you liked this post, you might also like:
If you liked this post, please share it:
