Monday, September 24, 2007

Fusilli e Bean Casserole


Today felt like a non-desi comfort food day. Hmm ... mac'n'cheese? No, I was craving something more nutritious than that! :)

After poking around several cookbooks, I finally embarked on making a veggie-filled pasta bake. As the fusilli cooked, I started gathering the makings for the base. A bunch of green beans were on hand, a ripe'n'ready-to-burst tomato was waiting too. And maybe some olives?

Fusilli e Bean Casserole

3 cups fusilli - cooked al dente

1 large ripe vine tomato

1/3 lb green beans - parboiled

10 green olives

1/2 cup nonfat milk
2 T all purpose flour

1/3 cup light havarti cheese - grated

2-3 t chopped chives
1/2 cup of breadcrumbs (or) crumbled flatbread, which was all I had on hand

red pepper flakes

salt to taste


After pureeing the peeled tomato, I added the minced olives in. The next step was to make a nonfat white sauce by roasting the flour in a dry pan over heat and adding the milk, constantly stirring to avoid clumping. I figured chives might give the sauce a good flavor - especially since I was skipping onions and garlic this time! It only took about 2-3 minutes to get a sauce consistency - I mixed this into the tomato puree, added the pasta, beans and cheese. The last step was to toss the mixture with salt and red pepper flakes before pouring into a baking pan and sprinkling with the flatbread crumbs.


It only took 15 minutes of baking at 375 F to finish cooking the pasta goodness!


3 comments:

Jyothi said...

really looks colorful and awesome. First time here, nice blog with yummy recipes. thanks for sharing.

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Dee said...

I love the combo of beans in pasta , crunchy beans and soft pasta Mmmmm... hard to resist!

Deeba PAB said...

This looks great. Saw u at blocatalog...so added u as a friend. I love being in the kitchen too, especially to bake. Do stop by at my blog someday.Ciao

I'm at
http://passionateaboutbaking.blogspot.com/