We’re always on the lookout for new family meal ideas and this twist on a classic pasta bake from Jamie Oliver has sent parents into a frenzy – and it’s so simple
For many parents, creating midweek meals that are quick to prepare, nutritious, tasty and kid-friendly can seem like a daunting task.
However, this twist on the classic pasta bake from celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is sure to be a hit, with families who have tried it calling it “delicious”. The beauty of this dish is its flexibility – you can easily substitute ingredients you already have in your fridge if you don’t have time to shop.
Jamie’s key advice for this recipe is not to fully cook the pasta in the saucepan, allowing it to finish off perfectly in the oven. In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Jamie describes this dish as the “most delicious, straightforward pasta bake” that transforms “the everyday pre-bought garlic bread into a thing of joy: the most amazing garlic bread crumb.”
This crunchy, flavour-packed topping gives the traditional dish a unique twist. One person who tried the recipe commented on the video: “I made this today for the kids! It was a hit! I added some chilly powder for more heat and some sugar to cut the sourness of the tomato. The bread crumb topping was a great addition to this yummy dish”.
Another said of the dish: “simple ingredients, easy to make, delicious.”
Ingredients:
- 500g dried pasta
- 3 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes
- 50g Parmesan cheese
- 8 cubes of frozen spinach
- 2 leeks
Method
Jamie starts by making a garlic bread crumb, ripping up half a loaf of shop-bought garlic bread and blending it into fine breadcrumbs. Then he sets the breadcrumbs aside and begins making the sauce in a sauté pan, drizzling in some olive oil and frying two finely sliced cloves of garlic.
He then chops some fresh basil and adds it to the pan with dried oregano, letting it all gently fry until it smells “really fragrant”. Next, he chops leeks and adds them to the pan for about 10 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper and stirring until they have softened. If they start to brown, he advises turning down the heat.
While the leeks are cooking, you should add your pasta to boiling, salted water in your saucepan. Let it cook for eight minutes or so, but for the best results don’t let it cook all the way. When you are draining the pasta, keep one mugful of the water back for later. Now your leeks are soft, add in your tins of chopped tomatoes.
To “use every last bit”, Jamie recommends filling the tins up halfway with water and then adding this to the pan you’re cooking your sauce in too. Bring the sauce to the boil, and then simmer it for about fifteen minutes, before putting the sauce into your blender.
Add the rest of your fresh basil and whiz until smooth, if you need to do it in batches because of the size of your blender, that’s fine. Once its smooth put it in your casserole pan and stir through the cooked pasta.
If it needs loosening up then use the pasta water you saved from earlier at this stage. Then pop your cubes of frozen spinach throughout the casserole pan and grate over your parmesan cheese.
Finally, add your garlic breadcrumbs and bake the dish until they are golden – this should be about 20 minutes. Let it sit for a minute or two once you’ve taken it out of the oven, and then simply tuck in and enjoy.
Remember, if you want to try this with different veggies, it will work just as well so you can swap out the leeks and spinach for whatever you have at home.
