I need to be out of the kitchen when June arrives as much as possible. That’s no longer to say I don’t cook, but I want to spend the least likely time in the kitchen to make the most of the lengthy evenings outdoors with my family and friends. All routes point toward dishes that require little to no prep, which, in my thoughts, approach either salads or bung-it-in-the-oven dishes, along with this pasta bake. It takes 15 mins to prepare and uses precise, flavourful, pre-prepared elements, including miso, sun-dried tomato paste, and passata. As an advantage, it feeds a crowd, too.
Baked pasta with miso, candy potato, and spinach
Ensure the non-dairy milk you use for the white sauce isn’t sweetened.
Prep 15 min
Cook 1 hr 30 min
Serves 6
750g sweet potato (i.e., approximately three), peeled and reduced into 1cm-thick rounds
Rapeseed oil
Salt
1 x 680g bottle passata
150g solar-dried tomato paste
½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
One garlic clove, peeled and kind of chopped
2 tbsp brown miso
750ml unsweetened non-dairy milk
5 tbsp cornflour
250g wholewheat lasagne sheets
250g younger spinach
75g panko breadcrumbs
Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7. Put the slices of candy potato on a baking tray, add a tablespoon of oil and a quarter teaspoon of salt, and toss to coat. Arrange the tray in an unmarried layer, then roast for 20 minutes until softening within the center.
Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce. Put the passata, sun-dried tomato paste, chili powder, garlic, and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt in a blender, then blitz clean. Taste and modify the seasoning as essential.
Warm the miso in a saucepan, slowly whisk inside the milk, carry it to a boil, then flip off the heat for the white sauce. Put the cornflour in a small bowl, stir in four tablespoons of the recent milk combination to make a thin paste, then slowly whisk this lower back into the milk pan. Pop the pan lower back on soft warmth for a couple of minutes, stirring until the sauce thickens to the consistency of custard; season with a quarter teaspoon of salt and turn off the heat.
To build the lasagne, spread a ladleful of tomato sauce over the bottom of a 34cm roasting tray, then upload a layer of lasagne sheets, followed by a third of the white sauce, 1/2 the spinach, half of the sweet potato and half the tomato sauce. Top with another layer of lasagne sheets, then any other third of the white sauce, accompanied by the remaining spinach, candy potato, and tomato sauce. Top with the last of the lasagne sheets and end with the final third of the white sauce.
Scatter the breadcrumbs over the pinnacle and bake for 45-50 mins, until the pasta is soft and the top bubbling and golden brown. Leave to relaxation for 10 mins, then serve warm, possibly with an inexperienced salad alongside.
