Family Pasta Bake

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One for the family for those Sunday nights, when all you really want is to chill out with a lazy meal in front of the television and a glass of wine, before the week roars into life the next day. Leftovers are great for heating up to make an easy family meal or office lunch the next day. Suitable for toddlers.

Prep: 10 mins

Cook: 55 mins

Serves 5-6

Excellent source of iron

Ingredients

500-600 grams Quality Mark lean beef mince
1 onion, peeled and finely diced
2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
1 teaspoon each dried basil and oregano
3 stalks celery, finely diced
1 x 400 gram can condensed tomato-or similar-style soup
½ cup pizza paste
½-1 cup beef stock

Topping

2-3 cups cooked pasta shapes, (use spirals, macaroni, penne)
1 egg
250 grams cottage cheese
¾ cup grated Cheddar style cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

Lightly grease a 6-cup capacity oven proof dish or frying-pan, or 6 individual dishes.

Cook the onion in a dash of oil in a frying pan for 8-10 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and dried herbs and cook for a further 2-3 minutes until mix is fragrant, set aside.

Add beef mince to the pan and brown well. Return the onion and garlic mix to the pan with the celery, soup, pizza paste and half the beef stock. Cover and simmer gently for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until reasonably thick. Add more stock if required and season well with salt and pepper. Transfer to the prepared dish.

Mix together the pasta, egg, cottage cheese and grated cheese and dollop on top of the mince.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until well browned and hot.

^{This recipe is courtesy of Allyson Gofton's cookbook, Good Food Made Simple, photography by Alan Gillard}

Suitable Cuts
Nutrition
Tips & Tricks

BEEF OR LAMB MINCE

Nutrition Information Per Serving

Serving size: 362g

Energy kJ (kcal)	1908 (455)
Protein (g)	38.4
Fat (g)	18.6
Saturated (g)	8.4
Carbohydrate (g)	31.5
Sugars (g)	11.6
Sodium (mg)	1011
Iron (mg)	4.9
Zinc (mg)	5.8
Vitamin B12 (ug)	3.3
Vitamin D (ug)	N/A
Selenium (ug)	12.7

Or you could...

Use minced or finely diced cold cooked beef or lamb
add a cup of chopped tomatoes or pre-flavoured canned tomatoes
cover with mashed potato, kumara or pumpkin in place of the cottage cheese and pasta topping
use fresh chilled soup in place of canned condensed soup
add a generous spoonful of pesto to the topping