Last Updated on February 25, 2024
Skip straight to my recipe for Leftover Pasta Bake
I love a good Sunday roast – simple to put together and comforting. And, I love my leftovers. A frugal cook should always make the most of what remains on Monday. Any poultry or game bird carcass forms the basis of stock for soups and risottos. Scraps of meat are saved for sandwiches, for salads and for dishes like this leftover pasta bake. And, then it’s Sunday again! OK, I probably can’t make a roast last all week, but I generally do manage 2 or 3 meals with what remains. This pasta bake is a great example of the kind of dish you can easily throw together with leftovers from the roast. It’s infinitely variable depending on what you happen to have lurking in the fridge or storecupboard.
Start by putting together your ingredients. Some leftovers from the roast, any cooked green vegetables, a bit of cheese if you think you need some extra protein and perhaps a few mushrooms or tomatoes. My leftovers included the pancetta that I had used to top the pheasant roast, a handful of leftover meat and a few bits of cooked broccoli. I had mushrooms in the fridge and I’ve got a surplus of leftover cheese just waiting to be grated up and used to enrich the sauce.
You’ll need 75g of dried pasta per person and about half a litre of milk to make a bechamel sauce, along with butter and flour or cornflour. I also added a good pinch of smoked paprika – for a subtler spicing I’ll use a little grated nutmeg but you don’t need either.
Other than frozen peas which can be added as they are and tomatoes which can just be chopped and added to the mixture, you should cook most raw ingredients lightly. I only had a few mushrooms, which I fried in a little butter before starting the simplified bechamel.
Making this dish is ultra simple. Turn the oven on to preheat at 165C (fan) or 175C (conventional oven). Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add in the pasta. I’ve used fusilli, but you can pick your own favourite shape. Lightly cook any raw vegetables and put them to one side. With an ingrained hatred of washing up, I use one of my cast iron casseroles that will be large enough for the bake to make a bechamel sauce by melting 10g of butter in a pan and then adding 10g of flour. Cook through over a very gentle heat then add the milk bit by bit, stirring it constantly with a wooden spoon and cooking through after the addition of each glug of milk. You’ll start off with something that looks a bit like wallpaper paste but eventually, you’ll end up with a creamy sauce that’s about the consistency of double cream. I like to add a spoonful of creme fraiche at this stage, but you don’t need to do so. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving a little of the cooking water, and set to one side.
If you don’t have a hob to oven casserole and have cooked your bechamel in a normal saucepan, don’t worry. Add most of the cheese to the sauce, then stir through whatever meat and vegetables you are using. If you are using a separate casserole, then add the sauce to that. Stir through the pasta and if necessary loosen the sauce with the reserved pasta water. Season well with salt and pepper as necessary. Top with cheese and sprinkle over the paprika or nutmeg if you are using it.
Put the casserole in the oven and leave it for 15-20 minutes till the topping is golden and the mixture is bubbling gently. Serve with a simple green salad.
Here’s a printable recipe for you – but, remember you can vary this as much or as little as you like depending on your own leftovers. I’d recommend it as a way to use up leftover chicken, turkey, pheasant or even pork.
Leftover Pasta Bake
Equipment
- 1 Heavy based cast iron casserole
Ingredients
- 150 grams dried pasta
- 75 grams leftover meat - I used a mixture of pheasant and pancetta
- 30 grams cooked green vegetables - I use broccoli
- 50 grams mushrooms - slices
- 50 grams grated leftover cheese
- 500 millilitres semi-skimmed milk
- 1 tablespoon creme fraiche
- 15 grams butter
- 10 grams plain flour
Instructions
- Set the oven to 165c (fan) or 175c (conventional)
- Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta.
- Reduce the heat and simmer gently till just cooked.
- In the cast iron casserole, melt half the butter and cook the mushrooms for 3-5 minutes
- Once the mushrooms are cooked, remove them and put to one side.
- Melt the remainder of the butter
- Stir the flour into the butter over a very low heat and cook for 30 seconds
- Keep stirring and gradually add the milk, about two tablespoonfuls at a time.
- Once you have a mixture that is about the consistency of thick double cream, stop adding milk and cook for a further minute or two
- Meanwhile, drain the pasta, reserving a little of the cooking water
- Stir the creme fraiche into the sauce then add 30 grams of the grated cheese. Taste and season with salt and pepper
- Now stir all the meat and vegetables into the the sauce and mix well.
- Stir through the pasta and top with the remaining cheese and a sprinkling of paprika or freshly grated nutmeg
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes till the cheese is golden and crispy and the pasta mix is bubbling.
- Serve with a green salad
Nutrition
Looking for more comfort food? try this delicious Ribollita from Tuscany
This is such a useful template for making a tasty meal on Mondays. I often do a fridge clearout dish as I hate throwing food away. The bechamel sauce you make here holds everything together.