Cheesy veggie macaroni bake

Making a pasta bake is really easy and perfect if you've a bit of time as it does take around a hour of cooking. I tend to make a big bake and make it last for two days of dinners.

I enjoy a really crispy topping to my pasta bake using mature cheddar and homemade herby breadcrumbs. Add a little contrast to the top, I scatter over pumpkin seeds as these get slight toasted when baked, giving added crunch

I use frozen spinach, petit pois and sweetcorn. I tend to use the chopped frozen spinach as it really disperses well in the mixture. I do like a tomatoey taste and add one or two tablespoons of tomato purée.

It's important to cook the mixture well so that all the flavour blends and the lentils cook.

Building the macaroni bake is easy. Add the macaroni, mix in the vegetable mixture, finally add the topping and then bake.

I use a large glass baking dish and this can serve 4-6 people and serve green vegetable as a healthier side dish.

Ingredients

For the vegetable mixture

1 tin chopped tomatoes

900ml of water

40g green lentils

1-2 tablespoon tomato purée

6 mushrooms (chopped small)

100g sweetcorn

100g petit pois

100g spinach

2 larger carrots (grated)

2 teaspoons of stock powder

1/8 teaspoon of chilli powder (optional)

1 teaspoon smoked paprika powder (optional)

For the baking dish

400g macaroni

2 teaspoon nutritious yeast

For the topping

30g herby breadcrumbs

140g mature cheddar (grated)

50g pumpkin seeds

Side dish

200g green beans (washed and trimmed)

1/2 broccoli (washed and cut in to florets)

Method

1. To make the vegetable mixture add all the ingredients to a large pot and bring to boil. Once boiled reduce the heat to low, add to the lid and simmer for 30 minutes.

2. Pre-heat the oven 180 degree once the vegetable mixture is cooked.

3. Add the macaroni to the baking dish and sprinkle over with the nutritious yeast.

4. Pour the cooked vegetable mixture over the macaroni and mix through. Ensure that all the Marconi is covered by the mixture. Flatten down.

5. Sprinkle over the top the grated cheese, the herby breadcrumbs and scatter the pumpkin seeds.

6. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees.

7. Five minutes before the end of the macaroni baking time steam some broccoli and green beans to serve as a side dish.

Feel free to tweak the recipe to your liking, change up the spices and vegetables. Sometimes I swap-out the petit pois and use broad beans.