How To Make Creamy Pasta Bake

I wouldn’t normally precook the pasta for an oven-baked dish; pasta cooked twice is too starchy and rubbery, and cooking what should be a basic one-step recipe in two stages defeats the object of the exercise for me. That said, you only have to leave the pasta to stand in a pan of boiling water for as long as it takes to make a two-minute sauce, which doesn’t really count as cooking, and the result is another perfect pasta bake in the space of half an hour; very tasty and easy to make. As with all pasta bakes you can swap the ingredients around to suit yourself and, for an even quicker option, make the sauce with a tin of condensed soup diluted with a pint (500 ml) of milk – chicken, mushroom or asparagus are all good – and use tinned vegetables instead of frying onions and mushrooms at the beginning.

1. Step 1:

   Warm about 2 oz (50 g) of butter in a large pan, fry the chopped mushrooms and onions for a few minutes until the

2. Step 2:

   Meanwhile, cut the chorizo sausage into small pieces.

3. Step 3:

   Bring a saucepan of slightly salted water to the boil then turn the heat off, add the pasta to the pan (one or two handfuls per person), cover with a lid and leave to stand while you make the quick sauce.

4. Step 4:

   Sift 2 tablespoons of flour into the pan with the fried mushrooms and onions, stir well and cook for about a minute.

5. Step 5:

   Gradually pour the milk into the pan, stirring all the time, then turn the heat up and cook for a couple more minutes until you have a smooth, fairly thin sauce (whisk any lumps out with a fork or a small hand whisk). Season the sauce with black pepper.

6. Step 6:

   Drain the pasta and transfer to a large ovenproof dish with the chorizo. Pour over the sauce and mix everything together thoroughly.

7. Step 7:

   Sprinkle with plenty of grated cheese and bake in the oven on Gas Mark 4 (180°C) for 15–20 minutes.