Planning ahead can be a tricky task, especially when you’re trying to think up new dinner ideas to see you through the week. With an abundance of choices, making food-based decisions that are relatively quick and easy for post-work dinners can sometimes be exhausting – to the point where we’d love for someone to simply make the decision for us.

And that’s where the mighty pasta bake comes in. These dishes are not only easy to put together but are also a great choice for when you need to save portions for those busy evenings or use up any leftover veg in the fridge. So, we’ve got three easy and delicious pasta bake recipes that will freshen up your dinners and keep you warm this winter. 

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 350g dried penne pasta
• ½ head broccoli, cut into small florets
• 50g butter
• scant ½ cup (50g) plain flour
• 2½ cups (600ml) milk
• 2 cups (280g) pre-grated Cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp English mustard
• 1 x 200g tin sweetcorn, drained
• ½ cup (23g) breadcrumbs
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• garlic bread and green salad, to serve (optional)

Method

Put the pasta in a large pan over a medium heat and pour over boiling water to cover. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and leave to cook for six minutes. Add the broccoli florets to the pan and cook for an additional two minutes, until the pasta and broccoli are almost tender but still retaining some bite. Drain through a colander and tip into a large baking dish in an even layer, ensuring that the broccoli is evenly distributed throughout the pasta. Set aside.

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a large pan over a low heat. Add the flour to the pan and stir with the butter to form a thick paste. Keep stirring for around a minute to cook out the flour, then gradually add the milk, thickening and whisking between each addition until you have a thick, glossy sauce.

Remove the pan from the heat, then add 1½ cups (210g) of the grated cheese along with the mustard, sweetcorn and a generous grinding of salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the top of the pasta and broccoli and give everything a gentle stir in the dish to ensure the sauce is coating the pasta and broccoli. Scatter the remaining ½ cup (70g) of cheese and the breadcrumbs over the top.

If you’re making ahead to freeze:

Set the unbaked pasta bake aside until cooled to room temperature, then cover with a lid or wrap in a layer of clingfilm followed by a layer of foil, label and freeze flat for up to three months.

This can then be cooked from frozen. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark four, cover the baking dish with foil (removing any clingfilm if you used it to wrap the pasta bake before freezing) and transfer to the oven for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and cook for another 30 minutes, until golden and bubbling.

If you’re cooking now:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark four then transfer the pasta bake to the hot oven to cook for 35 minutes, until golden and bubbling. Spoon into serving bowls and serve hot, with garlic bread and salad leaves alongside, if you like.

The Batch Lady: Cooking On A Budget by Suzanne Mulholland (£22, HarperCollins)

Gennaro says: Baked pasta dishes are very popular in Italy and they are a great way of not only using up leftover ingredients, but also enriching pasta dishes and making them go further. Baked pasta dishes can be elaborate like some lasagne recipes, but can also be quick and simple like this one made with aubergines and tomato sauce.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed and left whole
• 2 basil stalks, roughly chopped
• 600ml tomato passata
• abundant vegetable oil, for frying
• 500g aubergines, cut into small cubes
• 300g dried fusilli or spirali pasta
• handful of basil leaves
• 1 ball of mozzarella cheese (about 125g), drained and roughly chopped
• 70g grated parmesan cheese
• sea salt

Method

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the garlic cloves and basil stalks and sweat over a medium heat for a minute or so. Add the tomato passata and a little salt to taste and cook over a medium-low heat for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas mark six.

While the sauce is bubbling away, heat plenty of vegetable oil in a large, deep frying pan until hot, then add some of the aubergine cubes and deep-fry over a medium-to high heat until golden brown, about five minutes. You’ll need to deep-fry the aubergine in batches, ensuring you reheat the oil between each batch. Remove each batch using a slotted spoon and leave to drain on kitchen paper.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a pan of salted boiling water according to the packet instructions until al dente. Drain well and set aside.

Remove and discard the garlic cloves from the tomato sauce. Combine the remaining tomato sauce with the deep-fried aubergines, the cooked pasta, basil leaves, three quarters of the mozzarella and half the grated Parmesan.

Pour the mixture into the ovenproof dish, then top with the remaining mozzarella and grated Parmesan. Bake in the oven for about 20–25 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for five minutes before serving.

Gennaro’s Cucina: Hearty Money-Saving Meals From An Italian Kitchen by Gennaro Contaldo (£25, Pavilion)

Katrina says: When I lived in New York for a red-hot minute, I threw financial caution to the wind and ate at Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo’s – there was a bit of a cult special – this vermouth pasta served with a negroni neat, and my lordy it was food-memory-altering good. And I feel we should all embrace its deliciousness and this wee version has it in spades with 1. Sweet jammy roasted shallots. 2. A hit of gin and vermouth/Campari. 3. Carbs. 4. The first three together. All at the same time. It’s the recipe to make when you have nothing and everything to prove. It is so understated in its glorious mess yet so articulate in flavour and je ne sais quoi.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 500g French shallots, halved lengthways
• 90ml olive oil
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• 750ml (3 cups) Bloody useful red sauce (page 124)
• 90ml Campari or vermouth
• 85ml gin
• 500g large dried rigatoni
• 250g buffalo mozzarella, coarsely torn

For the Bloody useful red sauce:

Makes 3.5 litres

• 60ml olive oil
• 4 brown onions, chopped
• 8 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 bunch oregano, leaves picked and chopped
• 60g smoked pancetta, in one piece
• 1 parmesan rind
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 300g tomato paste (concentrated purée)
• 250ml (1 cup) red wine
• 1.2 kg tinned chopped tomatoes
• 1.2 kg beefsteak tomatoes, cored, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
• 40g brown sugar
• 500ml chicken stock

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium–high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring regularly, for 10 minutes.

Add the oregano, pancetta, parmesan rind, salt and peppercorns and continue to cook over medium heat for a further eight to 10 minutes, until the onion is completely soft and lightly caramelised.

Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a further three to four minutes, then add the remaining ingredients. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for three to four hours, until the sauce has reduced and is thick and rich. Remove the pancetta and whatever is left of the parmesan rind and discard.

Lightly blend the sauce with a stick blender. Continue to reduce the sauce over low heat for a further 30–50 minutes until thick and dark red. Remove from the heat, check the seasoning and cool ready for use.

This will keep for up to 3 months refrigerated in tightly sealed jars.

Method

Preheat the oven to 170 ̊C (340 ̊F).

Add the shallots, 60ml (1/4 cup) of the olive oil and the garlic to a baking tray lined with baking paper. Toss to coat. Cover the tray with foil and roast for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and roast for a further 20 minutes or until the shallots are very soft and have taken on a glorious dark roasted colour.

Place a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the remaining olive oil and, once shimmering, add the roasted shallots and garlic and the bloody useful red sauce. Reduce the heat to low, add the vermouth and gin and let the flavours get acquainted. You want to give it at least 15 minutes – 20 would be nicer – or until the sauce appears to have reduced a little and thickened.

Take two forks and shred the very soft shallots into the sauce. This doesn’t need to be perfect, just pulling them apart enough to ensure their goodness is spread through the sauce is all that is required.

Add the pasta to a large pot of boiling water and cook for five minutes – you don’t want to cook the pasta all the way through. Strain and run under cold water briefly. Reserve some of the pasta water.

Grease a round 25 cm baking dish and smear the base with about 1/2 cup of the sauce. Stand the rigatoni in it until full then gently pour in some of the sauce, using a spoon to smear and fill the holes. Gently push pieces of mozzarella into the pasta here and there – little surprises of cheese ooze waiting to be found. You want enough sauce in and around the rigatoni so it can finish cooking in the oven – if you seem short on sauce, just top with a little water. Season generously and pop in the oven for 30 minutes or until cooked and the top is bubbling.

Scatter over parmesan and serve.

From Salt To Jam: Make Kitchen Magic With Sauces, Seasonings And More Flavour Sensations by Katrina Meynink (Hardie Grant, £22)

Images: Haarala Hamilton; David Loftus; Katrina Meynink