Butternut squash, courgette, mushroom and chorizo pasta bake
Ever since I was a kid, my mum, my sister and myself have made this pasta bake recipe. I hadn't made it for years until the other night, and fancied it so decided to give it a go but with some slight differences to our childhood recipe! It's pretty easy to prepare and cook so it's good if you want something done in just an hour or so. The butternut squash offers a nice sweetness, which is complimented by the earthiness of the mushrooms, nuttiness of the gruyere, other veg and the chorizo adds a nice smokey/spiciness to the dish, though the chorizo can easily be omitted if you're a vegetarian. I'm not hugely specific with ingredient measures, so you can adapt the recipe to your own tastes/preferences if desired.
Ingredients
Serves: 6
- 300g to 400g pasta, of your choice
- 1 drizzle olive oil (optional)
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
- 1 courgette, sliced
- 250g cheshunt mushrooms, sliced
- 1 chorizo sausage, sliced (optional)
- 400ml creme fraiche
- 1/2 teaspoon mixed herbs
- 1 handful cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 120g grated Gruyere cheese
Method
Prep:10min ›
Cook:50min ›
Ready in:1hr
- Preheat the oven to 180 C / Gas 4.
- Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil over a high heat. Cook the pasta until al dente, about 7 to 8 minutes (don't over cook as the pasta will cook while in the oven). Drain.
- In a roasting dish, pour in the pasta, drizzle the olive oil if desired, add the garlic, veg and chorizo, along with half of the creme fraiche. Give a good stir.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes remove the dish from the oven and add the second half of the creme fraiche, mixed herbs, cherry tomatoes, cayenne and seasoning and stir into the pasta bake.
- Bake for a further 15 minutes, take the dish out and sprinkle the gruyere over the pasta bake.
- Bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, give a final stir then serve on warmed plates.
