Baked Pasta with Roasted Peppers and Zucchini & Giveaway

One of my raves about living in regional areas – especially a foodie haven like Orange –  is the ease of getting cheap pub food. OMG, I didn’t declare that out loud did I? Forgive me if I sound like a total cheapie! But who doesn’t like cheap (and delicious) food? Okay, I sound like a total cheapie again. I couldn’t help it, ha!

Working across a pub which offers $5 lunch from Monday to Friday is a luxury. (Hehe, interesting choice of word?) As the pub specialises in steak,  it often makes cheap lunches revolving beef – which I think the unsold meat is made into something else in attempt to reduce wastage. Examples of the “something else” are lasagne, pies, braised beef, beef skewers, nachos etc. (Note – they do offer fish and chips and frittata as the “other” options but you mostly get one beef dish and a non-beef dish.) Anyway, I feel this particular pub does really good beef dishes in general, and by the end of the week, I get this hangover feeling from meat. So this is how my veggies loaded pasta bake came about and as a means to “cure” my meat hangover.

Did you realise for a non-meat recipe post, I’ve mentioned the word “beef” way to many times? For vegetarians who are reading this, I do apologise. This is well and truly a meat-free recipe post.

Baked Pasta with Roasted Peppers and Zucchini

About 4 Servings

Ingredients:

• 2 small zucchinis, grated
• About 1½ whole red peppers worths of roasted pepper (mine came in a jar soaked in oil, drained)
• 1 medium sized onion, diced
• 1 small head of garlic, peeled & finely chopped
• 1 x 400g (14 oz) crushed/whole tomatoes in a can
• 1 x400g (14oz) cannellini beans in can *optional*
• 2½ cups of penne by San Remo
• 1 tbsp Masterfood Italian Herbs
• Black pepper
• Salt to taste
• ¾ cup shredded cheese (I used a mix of mozzarella, romano and parmesan)
• Fresh parsley for garnish *optional*

Methods:-

1. Peel onion and garlic. Dice onion and finely chop garlic. Set aside.

2. Roughly grate zucchinis. I used a food processor with a grater disc to do mine. You want the zucchinis to be quite coarsely grated. I find the juice from zucchinis is likely to ooze out if they were grated finely. You don’t want that.

3. Blend the canned tomato with roasted pepper until silky smooth. Set aside.

4. Heat some olive oil in a large pot over high heat. Add onion and saute until almost translucent. Follow by garlic and dried italian herbs, saute until aromatic. Then add zucchini. Saute until wilted.

5. Add the tomato-pepper mixture, cannellini beans to the pot and a quarter cup of water. Let it simmer over high heat until boiling then turn the heat to low to a gentle simmer, covered.

Note – the beans are totally optional. I just like to bulk up my food so it lasts a couple of days.

6. Simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and turn off the heat and set aside.

7. Get ready your preferred short pasta. I used San Remo‘s penne. Cook according to the packet direction – however, remove the pasta from the boiling water one minute before the specified cooking time.

8. Add the pasta in the sauce and mix to combine.  Heat the pasta mixture until the pasta is al dente.

9. Transfer the pasta to a baking dish. Sprinkle shredded cheese over it and place it under a grill until the cheese is melted. Garnish with chopped parsley just before serving.

About the GIVEAWAY…

As you may know there is 15th and 16th Century (the landmark Renaissance) Italian Paintings exhibition which is currently on show at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra until 9 April. For the first time in NGA, you’ll get to experience paintings from many of the greatest Italian artists such as Raphael, Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Bellini and Titian. (Even if you don’t know much about Renaissance paintings like myself,  it would be a good opportunity for you to experience part of the cultural movement that we’ve heard and read so much about.)

Courtesy of San Remo, the exhibition partner, I’m offering 2 couples free entry passes into the Renaissance exhibition only. Please note that this giveaway does not include travel costs and only opens to residents in Australia only.

To enter:

1. Like & Follow: Like the San Remo Pasta Facebook Page & Fuss Free Cooking Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.
2. Comment: Write “enter me” in the comment box on this post.
3. Return to this post to see if you’ve won.

Important:

• This giveaway is open to all members 18 years of age and older.
• You may only enter once. Multiple entries will not be considered.
• Winners will be contacted via private message by email to the addresses listed on their comment box. If the winner does not reply within 24 hours, a new winner will be chosen in his or her place.
• This giveaway lasts 4 days, beginning today, 19^th March 2012 (Monday), and ending 22th March 2012 (Thursday) at 11:59PM Sydney Time.
• This is not a sponsored post. The giveaway is a gift to me and Fuss Free Cooking readers.
• Considering the amount of time left between the time you’ll get the ticket and the end of the exhibition (9th April 2012),  the tickets will be express post to you as soon as possible.

The giveaway is now closed. Thanks for entering! 🙂

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